GIFT  OF 
Charles  L.   Camp 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

LIBRARY 


, 


RELICS  FHOM  THE  WKECK 


OF 


A  FORMER  WORLD; 

o  a 

SPLINTERS  GATHERED  ON  THE  SHORES 

OF 

A  TURBULENT  PLANET, 

&c. ;  &c. ;  &c. 
ILLUSTRATED    WITH   ENGRAVINGS. 


NEW-YORK: 

\V.  H.  (illAHAM,  TRIBUNE  BUILDINGS; 
II  .    LONG    A  N  I)    B  It  O  T  II  E  R  ,    32    ANN    S  T  R  E  E  T  ;- 


HUltGKSd,  STRINGER  &  CO.  22i  RROADWAY. 


RELICS 

tf 

FROM  THE  WRECK  OF  A  FORMER  WORLD; 

OR, 

SPLINTERS  GATHERED  ON  THE  SHORES 


or 


A    TURBULENT    PLANET. 

PROVING, 


TO    A    DEMONSTRATION,    THE     VAST     ANTIQUITY    OF   THE     EARTH  J    AND,  TH» 

EXISTENCE  OF    ANIMAL    LIFE OF  THE  MOST  FANTASTIC    SHAPES, 

AND     THE     MOST     ELEGANT     COLORS:     RIVALING    THOSE 
OF    THE    RAINBOW, MILLIONS    OF    YEARS    BE- 
FORE   THE    APPEARANCE    OF    MAN. 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX 


OM    THE    SCENERY    IN    A    PATCH    OF    INFINITE  SPACE.       TO    WHICH  IS  ADDED, 

ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  MOST  WONDERFUL  BODIES,  AND  SUBSTANCES, 

THAT  HAVE  FALLEN  FROM  HEAVEN,  IN  ALL  AGES  OF 

THE  WORLD  :     WITH  Atf  ANALYSIS 

OF    EACH. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  ENGRAVINGS. 


"  It  will  not  do  for  Christians  to  deny  the  conclusion,  on  the  ground  that  the. Mosaic 
narrative  teaches  that  the  Earth  is  only  about  six  thousand  years  old.  This  is  attribut 
ing  to  Moses  a  sentiment  which  his  language  does  not  justify."—  W.  Lindsay  Alexander 
D.  £>.,  F.  S.  A.  S. 


NEW  YORK: 

W.  H.  GRAHAM,  TRTBUNE  BUILDINGS,  H.  LONG  & 

BROTHER,  32  ANN-  STREET,  AND  BURGESS, 

STRINGER  &  Co.,  222  BROADWAY. 

1847. 


X 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1847, 

BY  HENRY  LONG  &  BROTHER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office •  cf  th.3  District  Comi  o£  the  Southern  District  of 
New-Yoilv.         t ' 


MATTHEW  LIBRARY 


PREFACE. 


Eternal  truth !  how  wondrous  is  thy  power, 
How  vain  the  human  mind  to  fully  trace 
All  the  deep  mysteries  that  hover  o'er 
The  hidden  depths  of  thy  profound  embrace. 

THE  present  work  is  intended  to  furnish  a  general 
view  of  the  leading  appearances  of  Physical  Nature — the 
economy  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  :  deduced  from 
Milner's  "Gallery  of  Nature,"  Mantell's  "Medals  of 
Creation,"  and  other  authentic  sources. 

Geology  and  Astronomy  are,  in  truth,  sciences 
whose  discoveries  have  realized  the  wildest  imaginings 
of  the  poet,  and  whose  realities  infinitely  surpass,  in 
grandeur  and  sublimity,  the  most  imposing  fictions  of 
romance. 


954116 


RELICS 

FROM  THE  WRECK  OF  A  FORMER  WORLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

''  The  very  ground  on  which  we  tread,  and  the  mountains  which  sur- 
round us,  may  be  regarded  as  vast  tumuli,  in  which  the  organic  remains 
of  a  former  world  are  enshrined." — Parkinson's  Org.  Rem.,  Vol.  I. 

ACCUSTOMED  to  consider  the  whole  of  nature  as  having 
sprung  out  of  nothing  at  the  Divine  command  in  the  course 
of  a  few  days — and  erroneously  deeming  this  belief  as  es- 
sentially connected  with  the  fundamental  articles  of  Chris- 
tian faith — it  is  little  wonder  when  Hutton  announced  to 
the  world  that  the  earth  offered  no  trace  of  a  commencement; 
nor  any  prospect  of  an  end,  that  he  was  assailed  as  an  in- 
fidel. But  time  effects  changes  in  the  moral  as  well  as  the 
physical  world,  and  such  a  belief  is  now  considered  no  way 
obnoxious  to  a  true  interpretation  of  the  sacred  text. 

Some  of  our  divines  are  among  the  most  celebrated  geolo- 
gists, and  the  vast  antiquity  of  the  earth  has  become  as 
fully  accredited  as  if  it  had  formed  a  distinct  subject  of  rev- 
elation. A  few  cavillers  are  still  to  be  found,  but  not  among 
the  enlightened  portion  of  the  Christian  community.  It  is 
only  from  those  who,  assuming  t/ieir  preconceptions  to  be 
true,  and  their  interpretations  of  Scripture  right,  that  we 
find  any  opposition  to  the  stubborn  evidence  of  fact. 


6%  RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK 

"  The  hope  of  truth  grows  stronger  day  by  day ; 
I  hear  the  soul  of  Man  around  me  waking, 
Like  a  great  sea  its  frozen  fetters  breaking, 
And  flinging  up  to  heaven  its  sunlit  spray, 
Tossing  huge  continents  in  scornful  play, 
And  crushing  them  with  din  of  grinding  thunder 
That  makes  old  emptiness  stare  in  wonder." 

Disputation  is  an  irksome  and  thankless  employment, 
and  scarcely  answers  the  purpose  of  conviction ;  because  the 
mind  naturally  sets  up  its  own  old  defences  whenever  its 
prejudices  are  attacked.  "Men  do  not  willingly,"  says  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Milner,  "abandon  notions  that  have  grown 
with  their  growth,  and  strengthened  with  their  strength, 
and  struck  their  roots  deep  and  fast  into  their  ( heart  of 
hearts.'  Besides  being  mortifying  to  intellectual  vanity 
to  admit  an  error,  they  disrelish  the  mental  disturbance  oc- 
casioned by  the  breaking  up  of  old  associations  of  ideas, 
and  the  toil  which  a  correct  conception  of  truth  may  require. 
Much  of  the  suspicion  with  which  the  scientific  have  been 
visited,  may  be  referred  to  prejudices  in  favor  of  early  im- 
bibed opinions,  to  which  the  demonstrations  of  science  have 
been  opposed — prejudices  which  are  known  in  the  pages  of 
Lord  Bacon  as  idola  specus,  the  individual  mind  being  the 
den  to  which  that  sagacious  observer  of  human  nature  al- 
ludes, and  repugnant  as  it  is  to  the  owner  and  guardian  of 
the  mental  cavern  to  have  its  chambers  of  imagery  searched, 
and  the  occupant  of  any  niche  ejected,  men  have  beeh  com- 
pelled repeatedly  to  submit  to  the  process,  however  they 
may  have  resisted  the  attempt.  A  country  schoolmaster 
may  still  discourse  of  the  four  elements — fire,  air,  earth,  and 
water ;  and  his  boys  may  look  up  to  him  as  a  prodigy  of 
erudition  ;  but  cttemical  analysis  teaches  us  to  smile  at  the 
enumeration,  though  old  as  the  days  of  the  Greek  philoso- 
phers. So  the  antiquated  notion  of  the  earth  being  an  ex- 
tended plane,  like  a  table, — as  motionless  as  that  household 
instrument,  the  sun  coming  to  take  his  daily  peep  at  it,  like 


OF    A    FORMER    WORLD.  7 

a  careful  watchman  on  his  rounds, — has  vanished  from  the 
face  of  civilized  society,  though  supported  by  the  impres- 
sion of  the  senses,  once  deemed  essential  to  religious  faith, 
and  defended  by  ecclesiastical  law.  It  becomes  us  there- 
fore, when  the  decisions  of  science  are  contrary  to  our 
familiar  ideas,  to  inquire  into  the  soundness  of  both,  and 
willingly  to  surrender  our  preconceived  opinions  to  the  force 
of  truth,  and  not  to  any  prejudice  against  knowledge" 

The  vast  antiquity  of  our  globe  is  now  as  fully  demon- 
strated as  its  rotundity  :  and  the  lapse  of  ages  which  must 
have  occurred  in  the  completion  of  a  geological  epoch,  as 
evident  as  the  distances  of  the  heavenly  spheres :  indeed 
more  so — because  the  one  can  be  proven  to  any  person  in 
the  slightest  degree  conversant  with  the  structure  of  the 
earth,  by  deductions  most  rational  and  satisfactory,  and  by 
evidence  the  most  complete;  whereas  in  Astronomy  the 
person  who  cannot  apply  the  telescopic  tube,  has  in  a  great 
measure  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  testimony  of  the  astrono- 
mer, and  the  collateral  evidence  of  the  mathematician. 
That  our  globe  was  the  seat  of  animal  and  vegetable  life 
through  a  countless  series  of  ages,  before  its  occupation  by 
the  human  species — that  successive  races  flourished,  decayed 
and  altogether  vanished,  long  anterior  to  the  appearance  of 
man  upon  the  stage  of  life — is  a  conclusion  of  which  irre- 
fragable evidence  is  aiforded  in  the  myriad  forms  of  once 
animated  existence,  whose  remains  have  been  disinterred 
from  their  graves  in  the  lias,  gypsum-quarries,  and  chalk, 
and  which  enter  almost  exclusively  into  the  composition  of 
vast  masses  of  mountain  limestone. 

"The  earth  is  in  truth  a  charnel  house,  full  of  bones, 
sinews,  shells,  leaves,  and  prostrate  trunks,  and  with  con- 
summate skill  the  botanist  and  comparative  anatomist  have 
traced  the  animal  and  vegetable  forms  indicated  by  the 
fragments  gathered  from  the  wreck  of  life.  Ancient  con- 
ditions of  our  planet  have  thus  been  restored,  when  stately 


8  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

ferns  and  graceful  palms  threw  their  shadows  upon  its  sur- 
face, and  herbivorous  and  carnivorous  quadrupeds  roamed 
in  its  forests  ;  when  animate  objects  of  uncouth  shape 
swarmed  in  its  rivers,  and  sported  on  its  plains ;  all,  how- 
ever, swept  away  antecedent  to  the  human  creation,  and 
whose  skeletons,  after  being  washed  in  the  ocean,  were 
laid  up  in  the  solid  masonry  of  the  globe's  present  super- 
structure. The  current  of  popular  opinion  has  run  vio- 
lently against  statements  of  this  kind ;  for  no  sentiment 
has  stronger  hold  of  the  common  mind,  than  that  all  the 
alarming  phenomena  of  nature,  with  the  existence  of 
death  in  the  animal  kingdom,  are  the  penal  consequences 
of  human  transgression.  Poetry  has  helped  to  extend 
and  perpetuate  this  idea,  which  observation  contradicts,  and 
which  a  rational  exegesis  of  the  Scripture  testimony  has 
shown  to  be  unsupported  by  the  record  from  which  it  was 
primarily  derived. 

'  Thus  began 

Outrage  from  lifeless  things ;  but  Discord  first. 
Daughter  of  Sin,  among  the  irrational, 
Death  introduced,  through  fierce  antipathy ; 
Beast  now  with  beast  'gan  war,  and  fowl  with  fowl, 
And  fish  with  fish ;  to  graze  the  herb  all  leaving, 
Devour'd  each  other ;  nor  stood  much  in  awe 
Of  man,  but  fled  him  ;  or  with  countenance  grim 
Glared  on  him  passing.' 

"The  opening  verse  of  the  Scriptures  announces  the  fact 
of  a  dependant  universe  being  created  by  the  Almighty,  but 
assigns  no  date  to  the  mighty  operation.  Geology  de- 
mands nothing  beyond  what  this  indefinite  enunciation  of 
the  Creator's  work  as  to  time  supplies  ;  and  theology,  in  the 
passage,  requires  only  an  acknowledgment  of  the  will,  power, 
and  wisdom  of  the  one  God,  in  originating  and  super- 
intending the  terrestrial  constitution.  At  a  precise  point 
of  time,  the  earth,  in  its  primordial  elements,  as  we  are  left 


OF    A   FORMER    WORLD.  9 

at  liberty  to  conceive,  was  called  into  being,  but  the 
question  is  completely  undetermined  ivhen  that  time  was. 
An  interval  as  long  as  the  imagination  can  entertain  may 
be  placed  between  the  first  operation  of  Divine  power,  and 
the  subsequent  arrangement  of  the  globe  for  the  habita- 
tion of  man.  The  record  allows  room  enough  for  all  those 
wonderful  changes  and  transformations  to  transpire,  the  in- 
dubitable memorials  of  which  are  discovered  in  the  deep 
and  dark  places  of  the  earth,  which,  after  ages  of  entomb- 
ment, have  been  commanded  to  show  themselves ;  but  yet, 
as  if  to  prevent  man  from  becoming  proud  amid  the  triumphs 
of  his  genius,  he  is  checked  at  once  in  the  endeavor  to 
measure  the  interval,  the  vastness  of  which  he  can  discern, 
which  will  ever  remain  to  us  in  the  present  state,  invested 
with  the  obscurity  that  marks  the  number  of  the  ocean's 
sands.  There  has  been,  however,  no  little  flippancy  and 
contraction  of  mind  evinced  by  many  who  have  carped  at 
the  demands  of  geological  time,  for  time  is  long  or  short  ac- 
cording to  the  particular  standard  we  employ  in  its  mea- 
surement."— Milner. 

At  the  first  step  we  take  in  geological  inquiry,  says  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Buckland,  we  are  struck  with  the  immense  period 
of  time  which  the  phenomena  presented  to  our  view  must 
have  required  for  their  production,  and  the  incessant  changes 
which  appear  to  have  been  going  on  in  the  natural  world  ; 
but  we  must  remember  that  time  and  change  are  great,  only 
in  reference  to  the  faculties  of  the  being  who  notes  them. 
The  insect  of  an  hour  contrasting  its  own  ephemeral  exist- 
ence with  the  flowers  on  which  it  rests,  would  attribute  an 
unchanging  durability  to  the  most  evanescent  'of  vegetable 
forms,  while  the  flowers,  the  trees,  and  the  forest  would  as- 
cribe an  endless  duration  to  the  soil  on  which  they  grow ; 
and  thus,  uninstructed  man  comparing  his  own  brief  earthly 
existence  with  the  solid  frame-work  of  the  world  he  in- 
habits, deems  the  hills  and  mountains  around  him  coeval 


10  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

with  the  globe  itself.  But  with  the  enlargement  and  culti- 
vation of  his  mental  powers,  he  takes  a  more  just,  compre- 
hensive, and  enlightened  view  of  the  wonderful  scheme  of 
creation,  and  while  in  his  ignorance  he  imagined  that  the 
duration  of  the  globe  was  to  be  measured  by  his  own  brief 
span,  and  arrogantly  deemed  himself  alone  the  object  of  the 
Almighty's  care,  and  that  all  things  were  created  for  his 
pleasure  and  necessities,  he  now  feels  his  dependence,  enter- 
tains more  correct  ideas  of  the  mercy,  wisdom,  and  good- 
ness of  his  Creator ;  and  while  exercising  his  high  privilege 
of  being  alone  capable  of  contemplating  and  understanding 
the  wonders  of  the  natural  world,  he  learns  the  most  im- 
portant of  all  lessons — to  doubt  the  evidence  of  his  own 
senses  until  confirmed  by  patient  and  cautious  investiga- 
tions. 

"  Where  is  the  dust  that  has  not  been  alive  ?" 

The  remains  of  organic  existence,  found  in  the  median 
and  other  tartiaries,  conduct  us  from  the  colossal  and  impo- 
sing to  the  minute  and  microscopic  j  for  beds  occur  entirely 
composed  of  the  fossil  relics  of  animalculites— those  in- 
finitesimal forms  now  present  in  our  lakes,  rivers,  and 
streams,  invisible  to  the  unassisted  sight,  whose  perfect  or- 
ganization places  them  among  the  wonders  of  the  creation. 
They  were  formerly  supposed  to  be  little  more  than  mere 
particles  of  matter  endowed  with  vitality ;  but  Ehrenberg 
has  discovered  in  them  an  apparatus  of  muscles,  intestines, 
teeth,  different  kinds  of  glands,  eyes,  nerves,  and  organs  of 
reproduction.  Yet  some  of  the  smallest  are  not  more  than 
the  24,000th  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  the  thickness  of  the 
skin  of  their  stomachs  not  more  than  the  50,000,000th  part 
of  an  inch,  a  single  drop  of  water  having  been  estimated 
sometimes  actually  to  contain  500,000,000  individuals. 
Not  less  astonishing  is  their  power  of  multiplication,  an  in- 
dividual of  one  species  increasing  in  ten  days  to  1,000,000 


OP   A   FORMER   WORLD.  11 

on  the  eleventh  day  to  4,000,000,  and  on  the  twelfth  day  to 
16,000,000 ;  while,  of  another  kind,  Ehrenberg  states  that  one 
individual  is  capable  of  becoming,  in  four  days,  170,000,- 
000,000 !  To  this  distinguished  naturalist  we  are  indebted 
for  the  developement  of  the  fact  that  ages  ago  our  world 
was  rife  with  these  minute  organisms,  belonging  to  a  great 
number  of  species,  whose  mineralised  skeletons  actually  con- 
stitute nearly  the  whole  mass  of  some  tertiary  soils  and  rocks 
several  feet  in  thickness,  and  extending  over  areas  of  many 
acres.  Such  is  the  Polirschiefe7'}  or  polishing  slate  of  Bilin 
in  Bohemia,  which  occupies  a  surface  of  great  extent,  proba- 
bly the  site  of  an  ancient  lake,  and  forms  slaty  strata  of 
fourteen  fe'et  in  thickness,  almost  wholly  composed  of  the 
silicified  shields  of  animalcules.  The  size  of  a  single  one, 
forming  the  polishing  slate,  "  amounts  upon  an  average,  and 
in  the  greatest  part,  to  TSJ  of  a  line,  which  equals  i  of 
the  thickness  of  a  human  hair,  reckoning  its  average 
size  at  -fa  of  a  line.  The  globule  of  the  human  blood 
considered  at  yj-o  is  not  much  smaller.  The  blood  glo- 
bules of  a  frog  are  twice  as  large  as  one  of  these  ani- 
malcules. As  the  Polirschiefer  of  Bilin  is  slaty,  but 
without  cavities,  these  animalcules  lie  closely  compressed. 
In  round  numbers,  about  23  millions  would  make  up  a  cubic 
line,  and  would  in  fact  be  contained  in  it.  There  are  1728 
cubic  lines  in  a  cubic  inch;  and  therefore  a  cubic  inch 
would  contain,  on  an  average,  about  41,000  millions  of 
these  animals.  On  weighing  a  cubic  inch  of  this  mass, 
I  found  it  to  be  about  220  grains.  Of  the  41,000  millions 
of  animals  187  millions  go  to  a  grain ;  or  the  siliceous 
shield  of  each  animalcule  weighs  about  yfy  millionth  part  of 
a  grain."  Such  is  the  statement  of  Ehrenberg,  which  natu- 
rally suggests  to  the  reflection  of  the  French  philosopher, 
that  if  the  Almighty  is  great  in  great  things,  he  is-'  still 
more  so  in  those  which  are  minute ;  and  furnishes  additional 
data  for  the  well-known  moral  argument  of  the  theologian 


12  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

derived  from  a  comparison  of  the  telescope  and  microscope : — 
"  The  one  led  me  to  see  a  system  in  every  star ;  the  other 
leads  me  to  see  a  world  in  every  atom.  The  one  taught  me 
that  this  mighty  globe,  with  the  whole  burden  of  its  people 
and  of  its  countries,  is  but  a  grain  of  sand  on  the  high  field 
of  immensity.*  The  other  teaches  me,  that  every  grain  of 
sand  may  harbor  within  it  the  tribes  and  the  families  of  a 
busy  population.  The  one  told  me  of  the  insignificance 
of  the  world  I  tread  upon.  The  other  redeems  it  from  all 
insignificance ;  for  it  tells  me  that 

"  In  the  leaves  of  every  forest,  in  the  flowers  of  every  garden,  in  the 
waters  of  every  rivulet,  there  are  worlds  teeming  with  life,  and  number- 
less as  are  the  glories  of  the  firmament." — Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers. 

Nothing  more  perfectly  demonstrates  the  power  of  Nature 
to  effect  her  vast  designs  through  apparently  feeble  and  in- 
sufficient agents,  than  the  coral  formation.  It  .requires, 
indeed,  ocular  proof  of  the  labors  of  the  madrepores,  to 
credit  what  stupendous  submarine  reefs  and  islands,  many 
miles  in  compass,  are  indebted  for  at  least  a  great  part  of 
their  structure  to  the  secretory  economy  of  these  minute 
artificers. 

The  coral  insects  are  abundant  in  the  Mediterranean, 
where  corallines  of  beautiful  forms  and  colors  are  produced; 
but  it  is  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  its  branches  that  these 

*  Sir  John  Herschel,  in  an  "  Essay  on  the  Power  of  the  Telescope  to 
penetrate  into  space,"  a  quality  distinct  from  the  magnifying  power,  in- 
forms us  that  there  are  stars  so  infinitely  remote  as  to  be  situated  at  the 
distance  of  twelve  millions  of  millions  of  millions  of  mites  from  our  earth ; 
so  that  light,  which  travels  with  a  velocity  of  twelve  millions  of  miles 
in  a  minute,  would  require  two  millions  of  years  for  its  transit  from  those 
distant  orbs  to  our  own ;  while  the  astronomer  who  should  record  the  as- 
pect or  mutations  of  sueh  a  star,  would  be  relating,  not  its  history  at  the 
present  day,  but  that  which  took  place  two  millions  of  years  gone  by.  And 
when  we  reflect  that  if  it  were  possible  for  us  to  attain  to  those  distant 
spheres,  we  should  look,  not  on  the  limits,  the  blank  wall  of  Creation, 
but  only  into  fresh  fields  of  Creation,  Power,  and  Wisdom,  we  feel  that 
our  earth  and  all  that  it  inherits  is  a  mere  speck  in  space,  ar  atom  amid 
the  vast  Universe. — (See  Appendix.) 


OF   A    FORMER    WORLD.  13 

tiny  workmen  are  effecting  those  mighty  changes,  which  far 
exceed  the  most  remarkable  labors  of  man. 

"  Millions  of  millions  thus  from  age  to  age, 
With  simplest  skill,  and  toil  unweariable, 
No  moment  and  no  movement  unimproved, 
Laid  line  on  line,  on  terrace  terrace  spread, 
To  swell  the  heightening,  brightening  gradual  mound, 
By  marvellous  structure  climbing  towards  the  day. 
Each  wrought  alone,  yet  altogether  wrought, 
Unconscious,  not  unworthy,  instruments, 
By  which  a  hand  invisible  was  rearing 
A  new  creation  in  the  secret  deep. 
Omnipotence  wrought  in  them,  with  them,  by  them; 
Hence  what  Omnipotence  alone  could  do 
Worms  did.     I  saw  the  living  pile  ascend, 
The  mausoleum  of  its  architects, 
Still  dying  upwards  as  their  labors  closed : 
Slime  the  material,  but  the  slime  was  turn'd 
To  adamant,  by  their  petrific  touch ; 
Frail  were  their  frames,  ephemeral  their  lives, 
Their  masonry  imperishable.     All 
Life's  needful  functions,  food,  exertion,  rest, 
By  nice  economy  of  Providence 
Were  overruled  to  carry  on  the  process 
Which  out  of  water  brought  forth  solid  rock. 
Atom  by  atom  thus  the  burthen  grew, 
Even  like  an  infant  in  the  womb,  till  Time 
Deliver'd  ocean  of  that  monstrous  birth — 
A  coral  island  stretching  east  and  west." 

That  those  infinitesimal  forms  of  existence,  whose  pres- 
ence in  our  lakes,  rivers,  and  streams,  can  only  be  made 
manifest  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  should  be  detected 
in  a  fossil  state,  and  that  their  aggregated  skeletons  should 
be  found  to  constitute  the  chains  of  hills,  and  the  subsoil  of 
extensive  districts,  and  that  the  most  stupendous  monuments 
erected  by  man,  should  be  composed  of  rocks  resulting  from 
the  mineralized  remains  of  animalcules,  invisible  to  the 
unassisted  eye,  are  among  the  most  marvellous  of  wonders.* 

*  If  we  apply  our  vision  to  the  microscope,  we  behold  in  every  leaf 
and  blade  of  grass,  and  every  drop  of  water  in  which  these  substances  have 


14  RELICS    FROM    THE   WRECK 

Every  walk  we  take  offers  subjects  for  profound  consider- 
ation— every  pebble  that  attracts  our  notice,  matter  for 
serious  reflection ;  and  contemplating  the  innumerable  proofs 
afforded  us  of  the  incessant  dissolution  and  renovation 
which  are  taking  place  around  us,  we  feel  the  force  and 
beauty  of  the  exclamation  of  the  poet, 

"  My  heart  is  awed  within  me,  when  I  think 
Of  the  great  miracle  which  still  goes  on 
In  silence  round  me  —  the  perpetual  work 
Of  Thy  creation,  finished,  yet  renewed 
For  ever !" 


become  decomposed,  a  world  of  life  and  being,  unknown,  unseen  by  the 
feeble  human  eye.  We  have  only  to  cut  a  little  hay  into  small  pieces  with 
a  pair  of  scissors,  put  the  pieces  into  a  saucer  full  of  water,  and,  let 
them  stand  for  a  week,  when  a  film  will  appear  on  the  surface,  which  we 
have  but  to  take  off  with  a  spoon,  put  it  under  the  microscope,  and  we  have 
then  before  us  in  the  mere  drop  of  water  a  world  of  animated  beings  of  high 
order  of  organization,  possessing  heads,  eyes,  with  systems  nervous,  circu- 
latory, respiratory,  and  digestive,  yet  the  creatures  themselves  so  infinitely 
minute  as  to  be  perfectly  invisible  to  the  most  acute  and  perfect  sight.  The 
animalculae  form,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  important  realms  in  the  vast 
empire  of  Nature,  and  so  vast  are  their  numbers,  their  species  and  the 
diversified  phenomena  of  their  existence,  that,  as  with  the  vast  and  un 
numbered  orbs  above  us,  the  mind  is  lost  in  the  immensity  of  the  contem- 
plation; we  find  that  the  infinitely  minute,  like  the  infinitely  magnificent, 
transcends  our  powers  of  observation,  and  we  are  left  to  admire,  to  won- 
der, and  adore . 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD.  '  15 


CHAPTER  II  * 

"  Let  the  moon 

Shine  on  thee  in  thy  solitary  walk  ; 

And  let  the  misty  mountain  winds  be  free 

To  blow  against  thee  ;  and  in  after  years, 

When  these  wild  ecstasies  shall  be  matured 

Into  a  sober  pleasure  —  when  thy  mind 

Shall  be  a  mansion  for  all  lovely  forms, 

Thy  memory  be  a  dwelling  place 

For  all  sweet  sounds  and  harmonies,  oh !  then 

If  solitude,  or  fear,  or  pain,  or  grief 

Should  be  thy  portion,  with  what  healing  thoughts 

Of  tender  joy  wilt  thou  remember  me 

And  these  my  benedictions!"  WORDSWORTH. 

IN  walking  over  the  surface  of  a  country,  we  witness  its 
undulations,  its  mountains,  and  its  rivers,  and  are  apt  to 
conclude  that  hill  and  valley,  river  and  lake,  may  have 
existed  in  nearly  the  same  condition  since  time  began  its 
ceaseless  course.  But  when  we  come  to  examine  the  struc- 
ture of  the  mountain,  the  causes  of  undulation,  the  altera- 
tions which  have  taken  place  in  the  water  courses,  nay,  even 
in  the  general  configuration  of  the  globe  itself,  or  of  any 
particular  region  of  it,  we  naturally  exclaim,  "the  hills 
themselves  are  the  daughters  of  time,  the  waves  of  the 
present  ocean  played  in  past  ages  on  other  shores,  and  the 
rivers  which  supply  it  are  derived  from  surfaces,  which  in 
ancient  days  were  below  the  level  of  the  deep — all  that  is 
now  land,  is  but  the  debrisf  of  continents  and  islands  now 
unknown;  the  wreck  of  a  former  world — the  spoils  and 
the  sport  of  time." 

Effects  have  been  produced,  which,  if  attributed  to  the 

*  See  chapter  v.,  p.  45.  t  The  waste  of  other  rocks. 


16  RELICS    FROM   THE    WRECK 

ordinary  agencies  of  Nature,  require  the  imagination  to 
stretch  its  visual  glance  through  the  vista  of  a  past  eter- 
nity, or  at  least  through  a  lapse  of  ages,  as  inconceivable  in 
duration,  as  the  distances  of  the  spheres  are  in  the  field  of 
space. 

"  Were  we  to  assert,"  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Buckland,  "  that 
the  present  continents  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America, 
were  once  wholly  immersed  under  the  waters  of  the  ocean, 
and  that  after  rising  at  different  spots  in  low  newborn 
islands*  they  gradually  acquired  their  present  configu- 
ration ;  nay,  that  the  whole  materials  of  which  both  the 
present  continents  and  their  islands  are  composed,  have 
resulted  from  the  denudation  of  continents  and  islands 
which  have  been  worn  away,  or  finally  sunk  under  the  all- 


*  One  circumstance  may  well  surprise  us,  and  that  is,  to  find  in  the 
Bible  mountains  distingushed  in  two  classes,  very  nearly  in  the  manner  as 
they  are  distinguished  by  science  into  primitive  and  secondary.  Thus  in 
the  104th  Psalm,  a  composition  of  incomparable  poetical  beauty,  the  pro- 
phet gives  us  an  idea  of  the  formation  of  the  earth ;  he  represents  it  to  us 
as  still  covered  with  the  waters  of  the  deep  as  with  a  garment.  The 
waters  stood  above  all  the  mountains,  but  many  of  these  eminences  became 
elevated,  and  rose  above  their  level;  the  waters  then  retired  and  fled. 
New  mountains  then  appeared,  and  valleys,  and  plains ;  the  lowest  parts  of 
the  globe  were  formed  at  their  feet.  Two  principal  epochs,  then,  must 
have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  prophet,  from  the  time  of  the  rising  up  of 
the  heights  which  appear  on  all  parts  of  the  globe  ;  these  two  epochs  cor- 
respond to  the  formation  of  primitive  and  secondary  mountains. 

Reference  is  even  made  to  the  force  by  which  they  have  been  elevated : 
it  is  represented  as  proportionate  to  the  elevation  to  which  their  eminen- 
ces have  been  raised,  being  most  powerful  when  employed  in  elevating 
the  mountains  properly  so  called,  and  weaker  when  its  efforts  were  limit- 
ed to  the  raising  of  the  hills  above  the  valleys.  In  its  figurative  style,  it 
compares  the  elevation  of  the  former  to  the  skipping  of  rams,  and  that 
of  the  latter  to  the  leaping  of  lambs.  Newton  esteemed  the  Bible  "the 
most  authentic  of  ah1  histories;"  Hale  said,  "none  was  like  unto  it  for 
excellent  wisdom,  learning,  and  use ;"  Boyle  considered  it  "  a  matchless 
volume,  impossible  to  be  too  much  studied  or  too  highly  esteemed ;"  and 
Locke  pronounced  it  as  "  consisting  of  Truth  without  any  mixture  of  Error 
for  its  matter." 


OF    A    FORMER    WORLD.  17 

encroaching  influence  of  the  waves,  we  would  not  be 
credited  by  many — the  assertion  would  seem  that  of  one 
whose  avocation  was  the  excitement  of  astonishment,  and 
who  if  he  could  make  his  reader  wonder,  had  attained  the 
acme  of  his  ambition.  Yet  such,  nevertheless,  is  the  con- 
clusion, to  which  all  who  study  the  structure  of  the  earth, 
divested  of  prejudice  and  preconception,  are  necessarily  led/' 

If  we  look  with  wonder  upon  the  great  remains  of  human 
works,  says  Sir  H.  Davy,  such  as  the  columns  of  Pal- 
myra, broken  in  the  midst  of  the  desert ;  the  temples  of 
PaBstum,  beautiful  in  the  decay  of  twenty  centuries;  or' 
the  mutilated  fragments  of  Greek  sculpture  in  the  Acro- 
polis of  Athens,  or  in  our  own  museums,  as  proofs  of  the 
genius  of  artists,  and  power  and  riches  of  nations  now 
passed  away ;  with  how  much  deeper  feeling  of  admiration 
must  we  consider  those  grand  monuments  of  nature  which 
mark  the  revolutions  of  the  Globe ;  continents  broken  into 
islands ;  one  land  produced,  another  destroyed ;  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  become  a  fertile  soil ;  whole  races  of  animals 
extinct,  and  the  bones  and  exuviae  of  one  class  covered  with 
the  remains  of  another ;  and  upon  the  graves  of  past  gen- 
erations—  the  marble  or  rocky  tombs,  as  it  were,  of  a  for- 
mer animated  world — new  generations  rising,  and  order 
and  harmony  established,  and  a  system  of  life  and  beauty 
produced  out  of  chaos  and  death ;  proving  the  infinite  power, 
wisdom,  and  goodness  of  the  GREAT  CAUSE  of  all  things! 

From  the  numerous  foreign  writers,  who  at  a  very  early 
period  began  to  entertain  correct  notions  of  the  structure 
of  our  planet,  and  of  the  nature  of  the  revolutions  which 
it  had  undergone,  we  are  induced  to  select  the  following 
highly  philosophical  and  beautiful  illustration  of  the  phy- 
sical mutations  to  which  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  per- 
petually exposed.  It  is  from  an  Arabic  manuscript  written 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  narrative  is  supposed  to  be 
given  by  Rhidhz,  an  allegorical  personage. 


18  RELICS    FROM    THE   WRECK 

"I  passed  one  day  by  a  very  ancient  and  populous  wty 
and  I  asked  one  of  its  inhabitants  how  long  it  had  been 
founded?  'It  is,  indeed,  a  mighty  city/ replied  he;  'we 
know  not  how  long  it  has  existed,  and  our  ancestors  were  on 
this  subject  as  ignorant  as  ourselves.'  Some  centuries  after- 
wards, as  I  passed  by  the  same  place,  I  could  not  perceive  the 
slightest  vestige  of  the  city.  I  demanded  of  a  peasant,  who 
was  gathering  herbs  upon  its  former  site,  how  long  it  had  been 
destroyed  ?'  '  In  sooth,  a  strange  question,'  replied  he,  '  the 
ground  here- has  never  been  different  from  what  you  now 
behold  it.'  '  Was  there  not,'  said  I,  '  of  old  a  splendid  city 
here?'  'Never,'  answered  he,  'so  far  as  we  know,  and 
never  did  our  fathers  speak  to  us  of  any  such.' 

"  On  my  return  there  again,  after  the  lapse  of  other  cen- 
turies, I  found  the  sea  in  the  same  place,  and  on  its  shores 
were  a  party  of  fishermen,  of  whom  I  inquired  how  long 
the  land  had  been  covered  by  the  waters  ?  '  Is  this  a  ques-  * 
tion',  said  they, '  for  a  man  like  you  ?  This  spot  has  always 
been  what  it  is  now.' 

"  I  again  returned  ages  afterwards,  and  the  sea  had  dis- 
appeared. I  inquired  of  a  man  who  stood  alone  upon  the 
ground,  how  long  the  change  had  taken  place,  and  he  gave 
me  the  same  answer  that  I  had  received  before. 

"Lastly,  on  coming  back  again  after  an  equal  lapse  of 
time,  I  found  there  a  flourishing  city,  more  populous  and 
more  rich  in  buildings  than  the  city  I  had  seen  the  first 
time ;  and  when  I  would  have  fain  informed  myself  regard- 
ing its  origin,  the  inhabitants  answered  me,  '  its  rise  is  lost 
in  remote  antiquity — we  are  ignorant  how  long  it  has  ex- 
isted, and  our  fathers  were  on  this  subject* no  wiser  than 
ourselves.' " 

We  may  smile  at  the  ignorance  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
fabled  cities,  but  are  we  in  a  condition  to  give  a  more  satis- 
factory reply  should  it  be  inquired  of  us,  'What  are  the 
physical  changes  which  the  country  you  inhabit  has  under- 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD.  19 

gone  ?  —  and  yet  cautious  observation,  and  patient  and  un- 
prejudiced investigation,  are  alone  necessary  to  enable  us  to 
answer  the  interrogation. 

Dismissing  from  his  mind  all  preconceived  opinions, 
the  student  must  be  prepared  to  discover  that  the  earth's 
surface  has  been,  and  still  is,  subject  to  perpetual  mutation, 
— that  the  sea  and  land  are  continually  changing  place, — 
that  what  is  now  dry  land  was  once  the  bottom  of  the  deep, 
and  that  the  bed  of  the  present  ocean  will,  in  its  turn,  be 
elevated  above  the  water  and  become  dry  land, — that  all 
the  solid  materials  of  the  globe  have  been  in  a  softened,  fluid, 
or  gaseous  state,  —  and  that  the  remains  of  countless  myr- 
iads of  animals  and  plants  are  not  only  entombed  in  the 
rocks  and  mountains,  but  that  every  grain  of  sand,  and  ev- 
ery particle  of  dust  wafted  by  the  wind,  may  teem  with  the 
relics  of  beings  that  lived  and  died  in  periods  long  antece- 
dent to  the  creation  of  the  human  race.  Astounding  as  are 
these  propositions,  they  rest  upon  evidence  so  clear  and  in- 
controvertible, that  they  cannot  fail  to  be  admitted  by  ev- 
ery intelligent  and  unprejudiced  reader,  who  will  bestow  but 
a  moderate  share  of  attention. to  the  phenomena,  of  which 
it  is  the  purport  of  this  work  to  offer  a  familiar  exposition. 

Scott,  in  his  "  Marmion,"  refers  to  a  legend  once  preva- 
lent in  the  neighborhood  of  Whitby,  that  the  ammonite 
shells,  which  are  common  in  that  vicinity,  had  formerly 
been  snakes,  which  the  foundress  of  the  abbey,  St.  Hilda, 
succeeded  in  decapitating  by  her  prayers,  and  then  convert- 
ing into  stone : — 

"  And  how  the  nuns  of  Whitby  told, 
How  of  countless  snakes,  each  one 
Was  changed  into  a  coil  of  stone — 
When  holy  Hilda  pray'd. 
Themselves  within  their  sacred  bound 
Their  stony  folds  had  often  found." 

We.  shall  now  proceed  to  lay  before  the  reader  some  of 
the  data  connected  with  the  stratification  of  the  earth,  which 


20  RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK 

lead  to  the  conclusion  of  a  vast  antiquity,  and  of  the 
physical  revolutions  it  has  undergone  since  it  has  become 
a  planet.  Our  limits  forbid  us  from  entering  into  detail  on 
all  the  multifarious  forms  which  geology  has  disclosed  to 
our  observation,  nor,  were  we  doing  so,  could  it  prove  inter- 
esting to  any  of  our  readers,  except  such  as  have  made 
comparative  anatomy  more  or  less  their  study,  nor  will  our 
limits  allow  of  more  than  a  general  notice  of  the  most  re- 
markable of  those  forms  which  peopled  our  planet  prior  to 
the  existence  of  our  own  species. 

"  Every  rock  in  the  desert,  every  boulder  on  the  plain,  every  pebble  by 
the  brook-side,  every  grain  of  sand  on  the  sea-shore,  is  replete  with  les- 
sons of  wisdom  to  the  mind  that  is  fitted  to  receive  and  comprehend  their 
sublime  import." 

The  rocks  of  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  chiefly  com- 
posed, occur  in  beds  or  layers  ;  on  examining  them  we  find 
every  evidence  of  their  having  resulted  from  matter  carried 
by  rivers  into  lakes,  estuaries,  or  seas.  This  is  demonstra- 
ble from  some  of  them  being  composed  of  fragments  of 
other  rocks  worn  and  rounded  by  the  action  of  water,  so  as  not 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  gravel  strewed  upon  the  shore, 
or  which  we  meet  with  in  the  path  of  a  mountain  stream, 
except  in  its  having  been  consolidated  into  a  stony  mass — 
such  rocks  are  called  conglomerates.  The  red  sandstone 
formations  of  Arran,  and  the  coasts  of  Argyle  and  Ayrshire, 
Scotland,  consist  of  immense  beds  of  such  rocks,  alternat- 
ing with  layers  of  red  clay,  and  red  sandstone.  This  for- 
mation itself  is  many  thousand  feet  thick ;  we  never  find  in 
it  any  fragments  of  the  coal,  or  of  any  newer  formation  ; 
on  the  contrary,  the  conglomerates  consist  solely  of  pieces 
of  quartz,  slate,  red  sandstone,  and  other  rocks  of  more 
ancient  date.  In  the  same  formation,  which  stretches  from 
Argyle  through  Stirlingshire  and  Forfarshire,  to  the  eastern 
coast,  remains  of  fishes  in  a  very  perfect  state  of  preservation, 
have  been  found.  In  both  the  conglomerates  then,  and  in  the 


OF    A   FORMER    WORLD.  21 

fishes  we  have  evidence  of  this  formation  having  been  pro- 
duced, not  instantaneously,  but  through  a  long  succession 
of  ages.  Each  bed  of  pebbles,  if  the  ancient  agencies  of 
nature  were  any  way  analogous  to  the  present,  must  have 
been  the  work  of  many  years.  That  these  agencies  were 
not  more  violent,  or  at  least  that  there  were  long  intervals 
of  repose,  is  attested  by^fie  beds  of  fine  grained  sand- 
stone, and  consolidated  mud,  with  which  the  conglome- 
rates alternate.  The  largest  of  our  existing  rivers,  in 
rainy  seasons,  carry  great  quantities  of  gravel,  sand  and 
mud,  into  their  estuaries  or  the  sea ;  but  great  as  the  amount 
of  debris  is,  the  production  of  a  quantity  of  matter,  any 
way  equivalent  to  the  old  red  sandstones  of  England  and 
Scotland,  could  not  take  place  except  in  the  lapse  of  innu- 
merable ages.  The  mud  carried  down  by  the  Nile,  and  de- 
posited, amounts  only  to  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick  annually. 
The  old  red  sandstone  formation  is  estimated  at  from  three 
to  four  thousand  yards  in  thickness.  Allowing  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  as  the  average  annual  aggregation  of  matter, 
this  formation  alone  could  not  have  been  deposited  in  less 
than  432,000  years. 

If  we  contemplate  for  a  moment  the  agencies  that  must 
have  been  engaged  in  wearing  down  the  surfaces  of  the 
ancient  rocks,  and  in  transporting  them  over  the  vast  areas 
they  now  occupy,  the  time  here  stated  will  not  seem  any 
way  exaggerated,  but  far  too  little  for  the  amount  of  the 
effects  produced.  We  have  mentioned  the  old,  red  sand- 
stone formation  as  an  instance,  from  which  something  like 
an  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  time  requisite  for  the  produc- 
tion of  a  certain  class  of  rocks.  The  same,  or  even  still 
more  decisive  proofs  of  the  lapse  and  change  of  time  are 
afforded  by  the  other  formations. 

To  disintegrate  to  any  considerable  extent  a  solid  rock— 
to  transfer  the  material  by  a  river-current  to  any  oceanic 
site  to  deposit  it,  and  consolidate  the  deposition,  are  exces- 


22  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

sively  slow  operations,  requiring  the  lapse  of  centuries  to 
accomplish  the  formation  of  a  thin  stratum.  We  are  cer- 
tain, therefore,  that  the  building  up  of  the  gneissic  and 
mica-schist  systems,  by  the  abrasion  of  the  granite,  and 
the  gradual  deposition  of  the  detached  matter  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean,  must  have  required  a  period,  with  the  vastness 
of  which  the  mind  can  hardly  grj^ple,  though  perfectly  in- 
significant in  His  view,  to  whom  "  one  day  is  as  a  thousand 
years,  and  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day."  Of  these  two 
groups,  Dr.  Macculloch  remarks,  "  The  thickness  of  these 
strata  we  know  to  be  enormous,  their  depths  are  discovered 
by  geological  observations  and  inferences: — that  they  ex- 
tend to  many  miles  was  also  proved. — We  have  every 
reason  to  know,  from  what  is  now  taking  place  on  our  own 
earth,  that  the  accumulation  of  materials  at  the  bottom  of 
the  ocean,  is  a  work  infinitely  slow.  We  are  sure  that  such 
an  accumulation  as  should  produce  the  primary  strata  as 
we  now  see  them,  must  have  occupied  a  space,  from  the  con- 
templation of  which  the  mind  shrinks.* 

The  silurian  rocks  underlay  the  old  red  sandstone  of 
England,  and  these  are  also  estimated  at  3,000  yards  in 
thickness.  The  slate  rocks  of  Scotland  are  several  miles 
in  thickness,  and  all  exhibit  the  marks  of  slow  deposition 
and  subsequent  consolidation.  "  We  have  traced,"  says  the 
late  Dr.  James  Douglas,  of  Glasgow,  "  a  continuous  '  out 
crop7  of  these  rocks  along  the  coast  of  Argyle  for  seven 
miles,  and  this  is  not  one-third  part  of  its  extent.  The 
whole  slate  or  schistose  formations  of  the  west  Highlands 
of  Scotland  generally  l  crop  out'  in  a  north-west  direction, 
and  lie  in  an  angle  of  from  45  to  70  or  §0  degrees.  They 
extend  from  about  five  miles  below  Dunoon,  along  the  whole 


*  There  are  seven  distinct  geological  epochs  —  each  characterized  by 
sedimentary  deposits  of  enormous  thickness,  and  each  the  work  of  thou- 
sands, if  not  millions  of  years. 


OF    A   FORMER    WORLD.  23 

joasts  of  Loch  Long,  and  Loch  Lomond,  with  nearly  the 
same  inclination.  The  slate  rocks  of  England  underlaying 
the  silurian*  system,  are  also  of  immense  thickness.  These 
facts  show  that,  previous  to  the  carboniferous  or  coal  era, 
when  the  earth  began  to  be  adorned  with  vegetation,  my- 
riads of  ages  must  have  passed  away." 

The  carboniferousf  formation  excluding  the  mountain 
limestone,  and  millstone  grit,J  measures  1900  yards  in  thick- 
ness. Many  of  the  limestones  in  this  formation  consist 
almost  entirely  of  organic  remains.  Beds  of  limestone, 
30  feet  thick,  and  totally  composed  of  zoophytes§  and  shells 
of  various  kinds,  are  common  in  this  formation :  almost  all 
the  sandstones  contain  the  stems  of  trees  belonging  to 
genera  or  species  now  unknown,  and  many  of  the  clays 
abound  with  the  'most  delicate  impressions  of  the  fronds 
and  leaves  of  ferns,  and  other  plants  most  delicately  pre- 
served:  and  fishes  of  enormous  size  are  frequently  met 
with.  ||  Coal  itself  is  now  universally  acknowledged  to 
be  of  vegetable  origin.  The  laminated  nature  of  many  of 


*  Silurian — from  Silures,  the  name  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
Wales.  The  term  Silurian  is  given  to  those  rocks  which  occured  be- 
tween the  clay  slate  and  the  carboniferous  system. 

f  Carboniferous,  containing  coal. 

t  Millstone  grit,  a  series  of  rocks  in  England,  which  lie  between  the 
mountain  limestone  and  the  coal  measures,  as  the  beds  are  called,  which 
contain  workable  seams  of  coal. 

§  Zoophite,  a  coral  or  animal  plant. 

||  Fishes  make  their  first  appearance  in  the  upper  beds  of  the  Silu- 
rian rocks,  but  it  is  in  the  old  red  sandstone,  where,  on  account  of  their 
extraordinary  and  well-developed  forms,  the  study  of  them  becomes  de- 
finite and  deeply  interesting.  "  No  two  mineral  formations  contain  tho 
same  fishes,  the  species  in  each  being  quite  distinct  from  those  of  another. 
With  what  interest  then,  must  we  regard  these — the  first — created  of  the 
many  thousands  of  species  wnich,  since  the  period  of  the  old  red  sand- 
stone, have  moved  through  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  preying  on  each 
other,  and  otherwise  performing  the  offices  for  which  they  were  adapted 
by  their  peculiar  organizations  in  the  economy  of  Nature." — Agassiz. 


24  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

the  sandstones,  and  of  the  shale  or  slaty  clays,  and  their 
being  frequently  impressed  with  the  ripple  marks  of  the 
ancient  ivaves,  show  that  almost  the  whole  of  this  im- 
mense mass  of  deposition  was  accumulated  under  the 
influence  of  comparatively  tranquil  water  ;  if  so,  how  amaz- 
ing must  the  fhue  have  been  during  which  these  deposits 
were  formed ! 

The  roofs  of  some  of  the  coal-beds  exhibit  great  beauty 
of  appearance,  and  a  vast  profusion  of  plants.  "  The 
finest  example  I  ever  witnessed/'  says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Buck- 
land,  "  is  that  of  the  coal  mines  of  Bohemia.  The  most 
elaborate  imitations  of  living  foilage  upon  the  painted  ceil- 
ings of  Italian  palaces  bear  no  comparison  with  the  beau- 
teous profusion  of  external  vegetable  forms  with  which  the 
galleries  of  these  instructive  mines  are  overhung.  The 
roof  is  covered  with  a  canopy  of  gorgeous  tapestry,  en- 
riched with  festoons  of  most  graceful  foilage,  hung  in  wild 
irregular  profusion  over  every  portion  of  its  surface.  The 
effect  is  heightened  by  the  contrast  of  the  black  color  of 
these  vegetables  with  the  light  ground  of  the  rock  to  which 
they  are  attached.  The  spectator  feels  himself  transported, 
as  if  by  enchantment,  into  the  forests  of  another  world, 

"  So  wondrous  wild,  the  whole  might  seem 
The  scenery  of  a  fairy  dream ;" 

he  beholds  trees  of  forms  and  characters  now  unknown 
upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  presented  to  his  senses  al- 
most in  the  beauty  and  vigor  of  their  primeval  life;  their 
scaly  stems  and  bending  branches,  with  their  delicate  appa- 
ratus of  foilage,  all  spread  before  him,  little  impaired  by 
the  lapse  of  countless  ages,  ajid  bearing  fruitful  records  of 
extinct  systems  of  vegetation,  which  began  and  terminated 
in  times  of  which  these  relics  are  the  infallible  historians."* 

*  The  plants,  which  occur  in  the  manner  so  beautifully  described  by 
the  Doctor,  are  generally  not  in  direct  contact  with  the  coal-bed,  but  at  a 
little  distance  above  it. 


OF   A   FORMER   WORLD.  25 

Advancing  upwards  until  we  arrrive  at  the  sands  of  the 
ancient  Triassic  ocean — the  saliferous;*  or  new  red  sand- 
stone formation,  we  behold  appearances  as  unexpected  and 
startling,  us  the  human  footstep  to  Crusoe  on  his  desolate 
island — the  tracks  of  bipeds — colossal  birds — of  which 
no  other  vestiges  remain,  and  to  which  the  existing  order  of 
creation  affords  no  parallel.  Tracks  of  this  description 
were  found,  in  1828,  on  new  red  sandstone,  in  the  quarry  of 
Corn  Cockle  Muir,  in  Dumfrieshire,  at  a  depth  of  forty- 
five  feet.  After  removing  a  large  slab  which  presented  foot- 
prints, perhaps  the  very  next  stratum,  at  a  distance  of  a 
few  feet  or  inches,  exhibited  the  same  phenomenon.  Hence 
the  process  by  which  the  impressions  were  made  on  the  sand, 
and  subsequently  buried,  must  have  been  repeated  at  suc- 
cessive intervals.  In  another  quarry  in  similar  strata,  near 
the  town  of  Dumfries,  the  same  marks  were  discovered,, and 
in  one  instance  a  track  extended  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet 
in  length.  Dr.  Buckland  refers  these  impressions  to  land 
tortoises.  In  1834,  an  account  was  published  of  some  re- 
markable footsteps  in  the  new  red  sandstone  at  Hesseburg, 
near  Kildberghausen,  in  Saxony,  at  a  depth  of  sixty-nine 
feet.  The  largest  track  appears  to  have  been  macle  by  an 
animal  whose  "hind  foot  was  eight  inches  long.  It  has  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Chirotttkrium,  from  Professor  Kaup, 
owing  to  the  resemblance  of  its  impressions  to  the  shape  of 
the  human  hand ;  but  some  of  the  tracks  appear  to  have 
been  made  by  tortoises,  and  M.  Link  suggests,  that  others 
are  to  be  referred  to  gigantic  batrachians,  or  frogs  and  sal- 
amanders. 

The  new  red  sandstone  overlies  the  coal :  it  is  about  9000 
feet  in  thickness  and  yields  evidence  of  similar  conditions 
in  the  medium  of  deposition,  as  in  the  old  red  sandstone  pe- 
riod.    It  contains  besides  red  and  variegated  sandstones, 
marl|  and  conglomerates,  immense  beds  of  rock-salt,  and 

*  Saliferous,  containing  salt.         t  Marl,  a  compound  of  clay  and  lima 


26  RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK 

layers  of  gypsum  (sulphate  of  lime) ;  it  is  in  this  series  of 
rocks  where  the  saurian  or  crocodile  tribe  are  first  found. 
The  shells  in  it  are  all  of  marine  origin. 

The  Lias*  formation  is  superimposed  upon  the  new  red  sand- 
stone :  it  consists  principally  of  limestone  and  shale,  abound- 
ing with  a  vast  profusion  of  organic  remains,  differing  in 
species  from  any  found  in  the  older  rocks. 

A  small  slab  of  marl  from  Aix,  in  Provence,  in  the  col- 
lection of  R.  J.  Murchison,  Esq.,  contains  scores  of  small 
fishes,  as  perfect  as  if  recently  imbedded  in  soft  mud.  In  the 
chalk  formation,  many  of  the  fishes  are  uncompressed,  the 
hody  being  as  perfect  in  form  as  if  the  original  had  heen 
surrounded  by  soft  plaster  of  Paris  while  floating  in  the 
water.  But  in  coarse  limestones  and  conglomerates,  in  oth- 
er words,  in  materials  that  have  heen  subjected  to  the  action 
of  the  waves,  and  torrents,  detached  teeth,  scales,  bones,  (fee., 
constitute  the  principal  vestiges  of  this  class  of  beings. 

*  Lias,  a  provincial  word,  meaning  layers. 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD.  27 


CHAPTER  HI. 

"  To  discover  order  and  intelligence,  in  scenes  of  apparent  wildness  and 
confusion,  is  the  pleasing  task  of  the  geological  inquirer. — Dr.  Paris. 

THE  next  formation  is  the  oolite,*  consisting  also  of  lime- 
stone and  shales,  and  like  the  lias  formation,  teeming  with 
the  evidence  of  a  very  different  animal  economy  existing 
in  the  ancient  from  the  modern  ocean.  Among  these  are 
the  remains  of  the  Ichthyosaurus!  and  the  Plesiosaurus, J  an- 
imals combining  the  structure  of  a  fish  with  that  of  the 
crocodile,  and  furnished  with  paddles  like  those  of  the  whale. 
The  character  of  these  and  the  other  animals  will  now  be 
described,  and  from  which  the  reader  will  perceive  that  time 
must  have  been  required  for  their  production  and  growth, 
and  that  any  condition  of  the  ocean,  by  which  deposition 
would  be  more  hastily  precipitated  than  now}  would  have 
been  incompatible  with  the  duration  of  their  existence  in 
the  ancient  seas. 

The  periods  of  secondary  deposition  were  those  in  which 
the  Saurian  tribe  seemed  to  have  attained  the  most  extraor- 
dinary development,  and  many  of  them  were  formed  after 
types  which  have  wo  analogy  among  existing  forms  ;  such 
are  the  flying  Saurians,  the  Pterodactyles  (fig.  4),  the  Ich- 
thyosaurians  (fig.  1),  and  the  Plesiosaurians  (fig.  2).  The 
highest  of  all  the  Iguanoden  (fig.  6)  has  its  representative 
in  the  recent  Iguana ;  the  megalosaurus  combined  the  struc- 

*   Oolite,  from  oon,  an  egg,  and  lithos,  a  stone,  given  to  this  formatiolf  .' 
from  some  of  its  limestones,  containing  little  round  particles  like  the  roe 
of  a  fish. 

t  Ichthyosaurus  —  ichthys,  a  fish,  and  saurus,  a  lizard. — (See  fig.  I.) 
t  Plesiosaurus,  from  plesios  nearly  allied,  and  saurus,  a  lizard.— (See 


28  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

ture  of  the  living  crocodile  and  moniter,  while  the  Steneo- 
saurus  and  the  Teleosaurus,  approached  in  the  structure  of 
their  heads  and  dental  system,  to  the  long-snouted  Gavial, 
the  crocodile  of  the  Ganges,  while  the  Hylasosaurus,  com- 
hined  in  its  osteology  the  structure  of  the  crocodile  with 
that  of  lizards  armed  with  dorsal  spinal  ridges.  These, 
and  all  others  yet  discovered  in  rocks  ranging  from  the 
older  deposits  of  the  new  red  sandstone  to  the  terminating 
of  the  chalk  formation,  are  all  essentially  distinct  from 
species  now  in  existence,  and  form  in  our  museums  most 
tangible  evidences  of  the  very  different  conditions  of  these 
parts  o  the  earth  at  the  time  when  they  crawled  upon  the 
land,  or  swam  in  the  water,  or  winged  their  flight  through 
the  air.  A  brief  notice  of  these  tenants  of  the  ancient 
world  is  all  our  limits  will  afford. 

Ichthyosaurus*  (Fig.  1.) — Ten  species  of  this  genus  have 
been  found  in  the  oolite  and  lias  formation,  varying  con- 
siderably in  size,  the  largest  measuring  thirty  feet  in  length. 
"  In  its  general  outline,"  says  Dr.  Buckland,  "  the  ichthyo- 
saurus must  have  most  nearly  resembled  the  modern  por- 
poise and  grampus.  The  animal  was  furnished  with  four 
paddles,  the  front  ones  attached  to  a  sternal  arch  of  great 
strength,  and  in  a  manner  admirably  adapted  to  the  habits 
of  a  creature  requiring  rapid  motion  through  the  ocean. 
A  similar  construction  of  the  sternum  (breastbone)  is  only 
met  with  among  existing  animals  in  that  of  the  ornithor- 
hynchus,  or  duck-billed  water  mole  of  New  South  Wales. 
The  snout  resembled  that  of  the  porpoise  j  the  teeth  were 
numerous,  sharp  and  conical  like  those  of  a  crocodile; 

*  The  remains  of  these  animals  are  found  through  the  oolite,  and  in 
the  lower  beds  of  the  chalk  formations,  but  the  lias  is  especially  their 
sepulchre.  They  occur  in  great  abundance  in  England,  at  Barrow-on- 
Soar,  in  Leicestershire,  in  the  valley  of  the  Avon,  between  BatH  and  Bris- 
tol, aftd  on  the  coast  of  Dorsetshire,  where  the  cliffs  appear  to  b«  in«x- 
haustible  quarries  of  them. — Milner. 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD. 


29 


the  construction  of  the  head  was  that  of  a  lizard,  with 
enormously  large  eyes  j  the  vertebras  were  doubly  concave, 
like  those  of  fishes,  thus  combining  in  its  osteology  the  con- 
formation of  the  whale,  the  ornithorhynchus,  the  crocodile, 
and  a  fish." 

Fig.  1. 


Ichthyosauras  communis. 

Dr.  Buckland  in  his  Bridgewater  Treatise  mentions  that 
the  skeleton  of  one  of  these  animals  from  Lyme  Regis  in 
Dorsetshire,  preserved  in  the  Oxford  Musuem,  contains 
within  the  ribs  a  large  mass  of  undigested  fish  scales,  which 
it  had  devoured  previous  to  its  death,  and  as  this  mass  of 
coprolitic  matter  occurs  through  the  entire  region  of  the 
ribs,  he  concludes  that  like  existing  crocodiles,  it  must  have 
had  a  capacious  stomach,  whole  human  bodies  having  been 
sometimes  found  in  the  latter.  "  The  coprolites  (dung- 
stones)  voided  by  Ichthyosauri,  containing  the  bones,  scales, 
and  teeth,  of  the  animals  they  fed  on,  are  found  in  great 
abundance  in  the  lias  formation.  At  Lyme  Regis,  these  co- 
prolites are  so  abundant,  that  they  lie  in  some  parts  of  the 
lias  like  potatoes  scattered  on  the  ground ;  still  more  com- 
mon are  they  in  the  estuary  of  the  Severn,  where  they  are 
similarly  disposed  in  strata  of  many  miles  in  extent,  and 
mixed  up  so  abundantly  with  teeth  and  rolled  fragments 
of  the  bones  of  reptiles  and  fishes,  as  to  show  that  this  re- 
gion,  having  been  the  bottom  of  an  ancient  sea,  was  for  a , 
long  period  the  receptacle  of  the  bones  and  fcecal  remains 
of  its  inhabitants.  Thus  when  we  see  the  body  of"  an 
Ichthyosaurus  still  containing  the  food  it  had  eaten  just 
before  its  death,  and  its  ribs  still  surrounding  the  remains 
of  fishes  that  were  swallowed  ten  thousand  times  ten  thou- 


30  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

sand  years  ago,  all  these  intervals  seem  annihilated,  time 
altogether  disappears,  and  we  are  brought  into  the  imme- 
diate contact  with  events  of  immeasurably  distant  periods 
as  with  the  affairs  of  yesterday.'7 

Plesiosaurus  (Fig.  2). — ThisEnaliosaurian  or  fish-lizard, 
resembled  the  Ichthyosaurus  in  its  being  furnished  with 
four  paddles,  in  the  concave  structure  of  its  vertrebse,  and 
in  possessing  the  head  of  a  lizard,  and  the  teeth  of  a  croco- 
dile ;  but  its  neck  was  enormously  long,  while  its  trunk  and 
tail  possessed  the  proportions  of  an  ordinary  quadruped. 
The  head  was  comparatively  small,  the  teeth  conical,  very 
slender,  and  curved  inwards.  Professor  Owen  enumerates 
not  less  than  sixteen'  species,  some  of  which  are  thirty  feet 
in  length.  In  treating  of  this,  perhaps  the  most  hetrocli tic 
of  all  animals,  living  or  extinct,  Conybeare  observes: — 
"  That  it  was  aquatic  is  evident,  from  the  form  of  its  pad- 
dles— that  it  was  marine,  is  almost  equally  so,  from  the  re- 
mains with  which  it  is  universally  associated  —  that  it  may 
have  occasionully  visited  the  shore,  the  resemblance  of  its 
extremities  to  those  of  the  turtle,  may  lead  us  to  conjecture ; 

Fig.  2. 


Plesiosaurus. 

its  motions,  however,  must  have  been  very  awkward  on  land  ; 
its  long  neck-  must  have  impeded  its  progress  through  the 
water,  presenting  a  striking  contrast  to  the  organization 
which  so  admirably  fits  the  Ichthyosaurus  to  cut  through 
the  waves.  May  it  not,  therefore,  be  concluded,  (since,  in 
addition  to  these  circumstances,  its  respiration  must  have 
required  frequent  access  of  air,)  that  it  swam  upon,  or  near 
the  surface,  arching  its  long  neck  like  the  swan,  and  occa- 
sionally darting  it  down  at  the  fish  which  happened  to  float 


•  OF    A    FORMER    WORLD.  31 

within  its  reach.  It  may,  perhaps,  have  lurked  in  shoal 
water  along  the  coast,  concealed  among  the  sea-weed,  and 
raising  its  nostrils  to  the  surface  from  a  considerable  depth, 
have  found  a  secure  retreat  from  the  assaults  of  dangerous 
enemies,  while  the  length  and  flexibility  of  its  neck  may 
have  compensated  for  the  want  of  strength  in  its  jaws,  and 
its  incapacity  for  swift  motion  through  the  water,  by  the 
suddenness  and  agility  of  the  attack  which  they  enabled  it 
to  make  on  every  animal  fitted  for  its  prey  wluch  came  within 
reach." 

Megalosaurus.* — Remains  of  this  crocodelian  have  been 
found  in  the  oolite  at  Stonesfield,  in  Oxfordshire,  and  at  Be- 
sancon,  and  also  by  Dr.  Mantell,  in  the  Wealden  of  Til- 
gate  forest.  From  the  size  and  nature  of  the  bones  found, 
Cuvier  considered  the  animal  as  partaking  of  the  structure 
of  the  moniter  and  crocodile,  and  to  have  been  from  forty  to 
fifty  feet  in  length.  The  femur  and  tibia  measure  nearly 
three  feet  each,  so  that  the  hind  leg  must  have  been  about 
six  feet  long.  The  thigh  and  leg  bones  of  crocodiles,  and 
other  aquatic  quadrupeds,  are  solid  throughout,  but  those  of 
the  Megalosaurus  were  hollow,  like  those  of  land  quadru- 
peds,— an  arrangement  by  which  both  lightness  and  strength 
are  secured.  It  is  therefore  conjectured,  that  the  Saurian, 
under  consideration,  lived  chiefly  on  land.  The  structure 
of  its  serrated  teeth  indicate  it  to  have  been  carnivorous. 

Fig.  3. 


Anterior  extremity  of  the  right  lower  jaw  of  Megalosaurus  in  side 
view  one  fourth  of  nat.  size. 

'  From  /ueyaf ,  great,  and  aai>QO£ ,  a  lizard. 


32 


RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 


Pterodactyle*  (fig.  4). — The  extinct  reptiles  denominated 
Pterodactyles,  are  unquestionably  the  most  marvelous  even 

Fig.  4. 


Pterodactylus  Crassirostris  (restored  by  Goldfuss). 

of  the  wonderful  beings  which  the  relics  of  the  Age  of  Rep- 


*  TTTEQOV  a  wing,  and 


of,  a  finger. 


OF    A    FORMER    WORLD. 


33 


tiles  have  enabled  the  palaeontologist  to  reconstruct,  and 
place  before  us  in  their  natural  forms  and  appearance. 
With  a  head  and  length  of  neck  resembling  those  of  a  bird, 
the  wings  of  a  vampire  or  bat,  and  the  body  and  tail  of  an 
ordinary  mammalian,  these  creatures  present  an  anomaly  of 
structure  as  unlike  their  fossil  contemporaries,  as  is  the  duck- 
billed Platypus,  or  Ornithorhynchus,  of  Australia,  the  ex- 
isting animals.  The  skull  is  small,  with  very  long  beaks, 
which  extend  like  those  of  the  crocodile,  and  are  furnished 
with  upward  of  sixty  sharp,  pointed  teeth ;  the  eyes  were 
enormous,  enabling  the  creature  to  fly  by  night.  The  fore- 
finger is  immensely  elongated,  for  the  support  of  a  membra- 
nous expansion,  as  in  the  bat :  the  impression  of  the  wing- 
membrane  is  preserved  on  the  stone  in  some  examples ;  and 
the  fingers  terminated,  as  in  that  animal,  in  long  curved 
claws.  The  size  and  form  of  the  foot,  leg,  and  thigh,  show 
that  the  Pterodactyles  were  capable  of  perching  on  trees, 
and  of  standing  firmly  on  the  ground,  when,  with  its  wings 
Fig.  5. 


Restorations  of  Saurians  and  other  animals  of  the  Liaa. 


34  RELICS    FROM    THE   WRECK 

folded,  it  might  walk  or  hop  like  a  bird.  Dr.  Buckland  is 
of  opinion  that  it  had  the  power  of  swimming.  Fig.  5  ex- 
hibits the  chief  reptiles  of  the  Liassic  age,  the  Ichthyosau- 
rus and  Plesiosaurus ;  the  latter  in  the  act  of  catching  a 
pterodactyle. 

"  With  head  uplift  above  the  waves,  and  eyes 
That  sparkling  blazed,  his  other  parts  besides, 
Prone  on  the  flood,  extended  long  and  large, 
Lay  floating  many  a  rood,  in  bulk  as  huge 
As  whom  the  fables  name  of  monstrous  size, 
Titanian,  or  earth-born,  that  warred  on  Jove. 
Briarchus,  or  Typhon,  whom  the  den 
By  ancient  Tarsus  held,  or  that  sea  beast 
Leviathan,  which  God  of  all  his  works 
Created  hugest  that  swam  the  ocean  stream." 

Cuvier  in  his  great  work,  pronounces  these  flying  reptiles 
the  most  extraordinary  of  all  the  beings  whose  ancient  ex- 
istence is  revealed  to  us ;  and  those  which,  if  alive,  would 
seem  most  at  variance  with  living  forms.  Eight  species 
have  been  determined,  from  the  size  of  a  snipe  to  that  of  a 
cormorant,  occurring  in  the  lias  of  Lyme  Regis,  the  oolite 
of  Stonesfield,  the  grit  of  the  Wealden,  and  on  the  continent 
at  Pappenheim  and  Solenhofen. 

With  flocks  of  such  like  creatures  flying  in  the  air,  and 
shoals  of  no  less  monstrous  Ichthyosauri  and  Plesiosauri 
swarming  in  the  ocean,  and  gigantic  crocodiles  and  tortoises 
crawling  on  the  shores 

"  Till  all  the  plume-dark  air 
And  rude  resounding  shore  are  one  wild  cry" — 

of  the  primeval  lakes  and  rivers ;  air,  sea,  and  land,  must 
have  been  strangely  peopled  in  those  early  periods  of  our 
infant  world. 


OF    A    FORMER    WORLD. 


35 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Mighty  Pre- Adamites  who  walk'd  the  earth, 
Of  which  ours  is  the  wreck." 

HYLJEOSA»RUS  (Weald  Lizard). — The  lizard  thus  denom- 
inated by  the  discoverer,  Dr.  Mantell,  was  about  twenty-jive 
feet  in  length,  and  is  chiefly  remarkable  by  a  large  spiny 
process  along  the  back,  which  must  have  given  to  such  a 
creature  a  terrific  appearance.  Such  process  is  found  in 
many  of  the  living  lizards. 

Iguanodon  (fig.  6). — The  remains  of  this,  the  most  gi- 
gantic of  all  reptiles  living  or  extinct,  were  also  made 
known  to  the  world  by  Dr.  Mantell.  The  bones  obtained 
by  the  doctor  indicate  the  existence  of  a  herbivorous  lizard, 

Fig.  6. 


The  Iguanodon. 


36  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

allied  in  structure  to  the  iguana  of  the  West  Indies  ;  seven- 
ty feet  in  length,  and  fourteen  and  a  half  feet  in  circumfer- 
ance  round  the  body.  A  thigh  bone  measures  three  feet 
eight  inches,  and  thirty-five  inches  in  circumference,  and 
the  bones  of  the  foot  show  it  to  have  been  six  and  a  half 
feet  in  length.  The  nose  of  the  animal  was  armed  with  a 
horn,  equal  in  size,  and  resembling  in  form,  the  lesser  horn 
upon  the  nose  of  the  rhinoceros, — an  apparatus  which  also 
exists  on  the  nose  of  the  iguana.  The  teeth,  some  of  which 
are  two  and  a  half  inches  in  length,  are  deeply  serrated,  and 
their  resemblance  to  those  of  the  iguana,  clearly  demonstrate 
that,  like  it,  it  was  of  herbivorous  habits.  Besides  the  re- 
mains found  in  Tilgate  Forest,  in  strata  of  the  Wealden 
formation,  Dr.  Mantell  mentions  the  discovery  of  another 
at  Maidstone,  in  an  arenaceous  or  sandy  limestone,  called 
Kentish  rag,  belonging  to  the  Shanklin  sands.  This  rock, 
he  observes,  abounds  in  the  marine  shells,  which  are  char- 
acteristic of  that  division  of  the  chalk  formation.  In  the 
quarry  in  which  the  remains  of  this  iguanodon  were  found, 
Mr.  Benson  has  discovered  fossil  wood  by  the  boring  shells, 
the  lithodomi ;  impressions  of  leaves,  stems  of  trees,  ammon- 
ites, nautili,  &c.,  large  conical  striated  teeth,  which  are  re- 
ferrible  to  those  extinct  fossil  fishes  which  M.  Agassiz  de- 
nominates sauroid,  or  lizard-like,  scales  and  teeth  of  several 
kinds  of  fishes,  and  among  these  a  jaw  or  mandible  of  that 
singular  genus  of  fish,  the  Chimera. 

The  geological  position  of  this  specimen  forms  an  excep- 
tion to  what  has  been  previously  remarked  of  the  fossils  of 
the  Wealden ;  for,  while  the  bones  in  the  latter  were  asso- 
ciated with  terrestrial  and  fluviatile  remains,  only  the  Maid- 
stone  specimen  is  imbedded  in  a  marine  deposit.  This  dis- 
crepancy nowise  affects  the  arguments  as  to  the  fluviatile 
origin  of  the  Wealden  ;  it  merely  shows  that  part  of  the 
delta  had  subsided^  and  was  covered  by  the  chalk  ocean, 
while  the  country  of  t/ie  iguanodon  was  still  in  existence. 


OF    A    FORMER    WORLD.  37 

The  body  of  the  iguanodon  was  then  driven  out  to  sea,  and 
became  imbedded  in  the  sand  of  the  ocean  ;  in  the  like 
manner,  as  at  the  present  day,  bones  of  land  quadrupeds 
may  not  only  be  engulphed  in  deltas,  but  also  in  the  de- 
posits of  the  adjacent  sea. 

The  oolite  is  succeeded  by  the  Wealden,  green  sand  and 
chalk  formations  measuring  660  yards  in  thickness;  and  con- 
taining immense  quantities  of  fresh  water  and  marine  re- 
mains, the  species  being  almost  all  different  from  those  in 
the  older  rocks,  and  none  of  them  occurring  in  the  newer. 
The  Wealden  is  one  of  estuary  origin,  containing  many 
fresh  water  shells,  and  the  bones  of  enormous  reptiles :  one 
of  which,  the  iguanodon,  must  have  measured  seventy  feet 
from  snout  to  tail,  and  been  fourteen  feet  in  girth  round 
the  body*  The  chalk  and  green  sand  abound  with  marine 
remains.  It  appears  certain  that  the  beds  of  this  wonderful 
formation  add  to  the  antiquity  of  the  earth.  Come  when 
the  solution  may,  there  is  little  likelihood  of  it  shortening, 
but  every  probability  of  it  extending  the  period  that  has 
elapsed  since  God  called  into  existence  the  "  heavens  and  the 
earth." 

The  chalk  is  succeeded  by  the  tertiary  deposits,-  in  which 
the  existing  species  make  their  first  appearance.  In  the 
lower  or  first  of  the  tertiary  formations,  there  are  only  about 
five* per  cent,  of  existing  marine  shells;  in  the  second,  or 
middle  formation,  the  number  of  recent  and  extinct  species 
is  nearly  equal ;  in  the  last,  or  newest  of  these  deposits,  the 

*  Let  the  reader  visit  the  British  Museum,  and  after  examining  the  lar- 
gest thigh-bone  of  the  Iguanodon,  repair  to  the  Zoological  Gallery,  and 
inspect  the  recent  Crocodilian  reptiles,  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  in 
length ;  and  observe  that  the  fossil  -bone  equals,  if  not  surpasses,  in  size 
the  entire  thigh  of  the  largest  of  existing  reptiles ;  then  let  him  imagine  this 
bone  clothed  with  proportionate  mtiscles  and  integuments,  and  reflect 
upon  the  enormous  trunk  which  such  limbs  must  have  been  destined  to 
move  and  to  sustain,  and  he  will  obtain  a  just  notion  of  the  appaling  mag- 
nitude of  tho  lizards  which  inhabited  the  eountry  of  the  Iguanodon. 


38  RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK 

recent  shells  amount  to  ninety-five  per  cent. — circumstan- 
ces which  show  a  gradual  increase  of  marine  animal  life, 
for  a  long  series  of  ages  previous  to  our  historical  epoch. 
The  tertiary  rocks  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  and  other 
places,  abound  with  the  remains  of  extinct  quadrupeds  allied 
to  the  tajpirs  with  the  bones  of  elephants,  rhinoceroses,  hip- 
popotami, lions,  tigers,  and  many  other  animals  belonging 
to  existing  genera,  but  of  different  species  from  any  now 
living.  The  teeth  and  bones  of  horses  are  often  met  with 
in  the  elephant  bed,  in  Brighton  cliiFs ;  they  are  referable 
to  a  small  species,  about  the  size  pf  a  Shetland  pony.* 

"  Yes !  where  the  huntsman  winds  his  matin  horn. 

And  the  couch'd  hare  beneath  the  covert  trembles ; 

Where  shepherds  tend  their  flocks,  and  grows  the  corn; 
Where  Fashion  on  our  gay  Parade  assembles — 

Wild  Horses,  Deer,  and  Elephants  have  strayed, 
Treading  beneath  their  feet  old  Ocean's  races." 

Megatherium,  (Fig  7.) — This  leviathan  of  the  vast  plains 

Fig.  7. 


Skeleton  of  the  Megatherium. 


*  The  bones  of  the  Kangaroo  have  been  also  found  in  England.     That 
the  remains  of  an  extinct  species  of  gigantic  Kangaroo  should  be  found 


OF   A    FORMER    WORLD.  39 

of  South  America,  which  were  once  occupied  by  immense 
numbers  of  the  race  now  entirely  extinct,  partakes  of  the 
generic  character  of  the  existing  diminutive  sloths.  It  ri- 
valled in  size  the  largest  rhinoceros,  was  armed  with  claws 
of  enormous  length  and  power,  its  whole  frame  possessing 
an  extreme  degree  of  solidity.  With  a  head  and  neck  like 
those  of  the  sloth,  its  legs  and  feet  exhibit  the  character  of 
the  armadillo  and  the  ant-eater.  Some  specimens  of  the 
animal  give  the  measurement  of  five  feet  across  the  haunches, 
and  the  thigh  bone  was  nearly  three  times  as  thick  as  that 
of  the  elephant.  The  spinal  marrow  must  have  been  a  foot 
in  diameter,  and  the  tail,  at  the  part  nearest  the  body,  twice 
as  large,  or  six  feet  in  circumference.  The  girth  of  the 
body  was  fourteen  feet  and  a  half,  and  the  length  eighteen 
feet.  The  teeth  were  admirably  adapted  for  cutting  vege- 
table substances,  and  the  general  structure  and  strength  of 
the  frame  for  tearing  up  the  ground  in  search  of  roots, 
wrenching  off  the  branches  of  trees,  and  uprooting  their 
trunks,  on  which  it  principally  fed.  "  Heavily  constructed, 
and  ponderously  accoutred/'  says  Dr.  Buckland,  in  his  elo- 
quent description  of  the  megatherium,  "it  could  neither 
run,  nor  leap,  nor  climb,  nor  burrow  under  the  ground; 
and  all  its  movements  must  have  been  necessarily  slow. 
But  what  need  of  rapid  locomotion  to  an  animal  whose  oc- 
cupation, of  digging  roots  for  food,  was  almost  stationary  ? 
And  what  need  of  speed  for  flight  from  foes,  to  a  creature 
whose  giant  carcase  was  encased  in  an  impenetrable  cuirass, 
and  who,  by  a  single  pat  of  his  paw,  or  lash  of  his  tail, 
could  in  an  instant  have  demolished  the  couguar  or  the 

in  the  fissures  of  the  rocks,  and  in  the  caverns  of  Australia,  a  country  in 
which  marsupial  animals  are  the  principal  existing  mammalia,  is  a  fact 
that  will  not  excite  much  surprise ;  but  that  beings  of  this  remarkable 
type  of  organization  should  ever  have  inhabited  the  countries  situated  in 
the  latitude  of  the  European  continent  and  of  Great  Britain,  would  never 
have  been  suspected,  but  for  the  researches  of  the  geologist. 


40  RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK 

crocodile?  Secure  within  the  panoply  of  his  strong  ar- 
mour, where  was  the  enemy  that  would  dare  encounter  this 
leviathan  of  the  Pampas  ?  or  in  what  more  powerful  crea- 
ture can  we  find  the  cause  that  has  effected  the  extirpation 
of  his  race  ?  His  entire  frame  was  an  apparatus  of  colossal 
mechanism,  adapted  exactly  to  the  work  it  had  to  do. 
Strong  and  ponderous  in  proportion  as  this  work  was  heavy 
and  calculated  to  he  the  vehicle  of  life  and  enjoyment  to  a 
gigantic  race  of  quadrupeds,  which,  though  they  have  ceased 
to  be  counted  among  the  living  inhabitants  of  our  planet, 
have  in  their  fossil  bones  left  behind  them  imperishable 
monuments  of  the  consummate  skill  with  which  they  were 
constructed." 

The  oolite  quarries  of  Portland  have  been  long  remark- 
able for  their  containing  certain  strata  called  the  "  dirt- 
beds/7  in  which  the  stems  and  branches  of  coniferous  trees 
and  cycadesa*  are  found  in  considerable  abundance.  Many 
of  the  trees  as  well  as  the  plants  are  still  erect  (see  Fig  8.), 
with  their  roots  ramified  in  the  dirt-beds,  which  appears  to 
be  the  soil  in  which  they  grew.  "  On  my  visit/'  says  Dr. 
Mantell,  "  to  the  island  in  the  summer  of  1832,  the  surface 
of  a  large  area  of  the  dirt-bed  was  cleared,  preparatory  to 
its  removal,  an.d  a  most  striking  phenomenon  was  presented 
to  my  view.  The  floor  of  the  quarry  was  literally  strewed 
with  fossil  wood,  and  I  saw  before  me  a  petrified  tropical 
forest ;  the  trees  and  plants  like  the  inhabitants  of  the  Alg, 
in  the  Arabian  story,  being  converted  into  stone,  yet  still 
maintaining  their  place,  which  they  occupied  when  alive! 
Some  of  the  trunks  were  surrounded  by  a  conical  mound  of 
calcareous  matter,  which  had  evidently  once  been  earth,  and 
had  accumulated  around  the  base  and  roots  of  the  trees. 
The  stems  were  generally  three  or  four  feet  high,  their 
summits  being  jagged  and  splintered,  as  if  they  had  been 

*  A  genus  of  plants  allied  to  the  palms  and  ferns. 


RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK  41 

corn  and  wrenched  off  by  a  hurricane — an  appearance  which 
many  trees  in  this  neighborhood  (Bristol)  after  the  late 
storm,  strikingly  resembled.  Some  of  the  trunks  were  two 
feet  in  diameter,  and  the  united  fragments  of  one  tree  mea- 
sured upwards  of  thirty  feet  in  length ;  in  other  specimens, 
branches  were  attached  to  the  stem.  In  the  dirt-bed  there 
were  many  trunks  lying  prostrate,  and  fragments  of 
branches.  The  fossil  plants  are  called  Cycadeodia,  by  Dr. 
Buckland,  from  their  analogy  to  the  recent  Cycas  and 
Zamia,  but  for  which  M.  Adolphe  Brongniart  has  established 
a  new  genus,  named  Mantellia.  The  plants  occurred  at  in- 
tervals between  the  trees,  and  the  dirt-bed  was  so  little  con- 
solidated, that  I  dug  up  with  a  spade,  as  from  a  floor,  seve- 
eral  specimens  that  must  have  been  on  the  very  spot  on 
which  they  grew,  like  the  columns  of  Puzzioli,  preserved 
erect  amidst  all  the  revolutions  which  the  surface  of  the 
earth  have  subsequently  undergone,  and  beneath  the  accu- 
mulated spoils  of  numberless  ages.  The  trees  and  plants 
are  completely  petrified  by  silex  or  flint." 

From  what  has  been  stated,  it  is  evident,  that  after  the 
marine  strata,  forming  the  base  of  the  isle  of  Portland 
were  deposited  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  sea,  and  had  become 
consolidated,  the  bed  of  that  ancient  ocean  was  elevated 
above  the  level  of  the  waters,  became  dry  land,  and  was 
covered  by  forests.  How  long  this  new  country  existed 
cannot  now  be  ascertained  •  but  that  it  flourished  for  a  con- 
siderable period  is  certain,  from  the  number  and  magnitude 
of  the  trees  of  the  petrified  forest.  In  the  isle  of  Purbeck 
traces  of  the  dirt-bed,  with  trunks  of  trees,  are  seen  be- 
neath the  fresh  water  limestone  of  the  Weald  ;  a  proof  that? 
before  the  deposition  of  the  Purbeck  marble  could  have  ta- 
ken place,  the  petrified  forest  must  have  sunk  to  the  depth 
of  many  hundred  feet. 

Space  will  not  permit  us  to  describe  the  other  varieties 
of  the  vegetable  kingdom  which  occur  in  secondary  strata ; 


OF  A  FORMER  WORLD. 


it  must  therefore  suffice  to  observe,  that  like  their  contem- 
porary animals,  they  are  all  more  or  less  indicative  of  a 
much  higher  temperature  than  is  now  enjoyed  in  the  lati- 
tudes in  which  they  occur. 

Fig.  8. 


1,  Vegetable  soil.  2,  4,  and  6,  Fresh  water  limestone.  3,  Clay.  5  and 
7,  Dirt-bed  with  Cycadites,  &c.  8,  Portland  oolite  containing  marine 
shells,  &c. 

In  none  of  these  formations  have  the  remains  of  man  or 
of  his  works  been  ever  found. 

The  facts  that  have  been  stated,  will,  we  think,  satisfy  the 
reader  of  the  justness  of  the  conclusion,  that  the  whole  stra- 
tified rocks  which  constitute  the  crust  of  the  earth  are  de- 
rived from  matter  deposited  by  water  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  in  estuaries  or  lakes  which  at  the  time  were  inhabited 
by  animals  differing  in  species  and  genera  fro<>;*  any 


RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK  43 

that  now  exist ;  and  that  consequently,  the  present  struc- 
ture and  configuration  of  the  earth  is  the  offspring  of  a 
vast  antiquity.  Of  the  myriads  of  living  creatures,  that 

"  The  earth  has  gathered  to  her  breast  again," 

r 

how  few,  comparatively,  could  even  the  transcendent  genius 
of  Cuvier  reveal!  Finding,  even  in  these  restricted  bounds, 
the  amplest  proof  of  order  and  design,  the  mind  is  naturally 
led  to  the  sublimest  inferences  respecting  what  is  unseen, 
and  even  to  the  conception  of  a  power  and  intelligence  to 
which  we  may  well  apply  the  term  infinite  ;  since  we  not 
only  see  no  limit  to  the  instances  in  which  they  are  mani- 
fested, but  find,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  continually  open 
upon  us  in  increasing  abundance,  in  proportion  as  we  are 
enabled  to  extend  our  sphere  of  observation  and  inquiry ; 
and  that  as  the  study  of  one  prepares  us  to  understand  and 
appreciate  another,  wonder  follows  on  wonder,  till  our  facul- 
ties become  bewildered  in  admiration,  and  our  intellect 
falls  back  on  itself  in  utter  hopelessness  of  arriving  at  an 
end. 

In  the  tertiary  rocks,  the  number  of  species  of  fossil 
shells  found  is  2728.  In  the  chalk  rocks  500  —  in  the 
oolite  771 — in  the  ne.w  red  sandstone  118  —  in  the  car- 
boniferous rocks  336,  and  in  the  silurian  and  greywacke* 
systems  349 ;  making  in  all,  4832  different  species.  The 
greater  proportion  of  these  are  as  perfect  in  their  structure 
as  the  living  species. 

Such  are  the  views  of  modern  geologists  with  respect  to 
the  age  of  our  earth.  Unfolding  as  they  do  the  most  evi- 
dent traces  of  the  continued  exercise  of s  the  creative  power, 
in  the  production  of  creatures  from  time  to  time  fitted  to 
the  existing  physical  conditions  of  the  globe ;  they  offer 

*  Greywacke,  a  name  given  to  an  indurated  sandstone,  belonging  to 
the  slate  rocks. 


44  RELICS  PROM  THE  WRECK. 

incontrovertible  testimony  to  the  existence  of  an  infinitely 
intelligent  and  all-powerful  First  Cause,  and  thus  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  true  knowledge  of  the  great  Architect  of 
the  universe. 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD.  45 


CHAPTER  V. 

GENERAL    REMARKS    ON    THE   DIFFERENT   FORMATIONS. 

HAVING  enumerated  and  briefly  described  nearly  all  the 
stratified  formations  that  are  known  to  occur  in  the  crust 
of  the  earth,  we  proceed  to  make  some  general  remarks, 
founded  upon  the  facts  that  have  passed  before  us.  Let  it 
be  distinctly  understood,  that  the  object  of  these  remarks 
is  to  prove,  on  geological  grounds,  the  greater  antiquity  of 
the  earth  than  that  generally  assigned  to  it. 

The  first  argument  in  favor  of  the  antiquity  of  the  globe, 
is  founded  on  the  number  of  strata  that  go  to  make  up  its 
crust.  The  crust  of  the  earth,  or  that  rocky  band  that  sur- 
rounds and  encloses  its  molten  contents,  is  about  ten  miles 
thick.  The  greater  part  of  this  mass  has  been  examined, 
nature  having  laid  open  or  tilted  up  almost  all  the  forma- 
tions of  which  it  is  composed.  To  accomplish  this  appa- 
rently impossible  task,  the  geologist  has  but  to  walk  over 
the  uplands,  ascend  the  river  beds, 

"  To  sit  on  rocks,  to  muse  o'er  flood  and  fell, 
To  slowly  trace  the  forest's  shady  scene, 
Where  things  that  own  not  man's  dominion  dwell, 
And  mortal  foot  hath  ne'er  or  rarely  been ; 
To  climb  the  trackless  mountain  all  unseen, 
With  the  wild  flock  that  never  needs  a  fold ; 
Alone  o'er  steeps  and  foaming  falls  to  lean ; 
This  is  not  solitude ;  'tis  but  to  hold 
Converse  with  Nature's  charms,  and  view  her  stores 
unroll'd," 

penetrate  the  gloomy  ravines,  and  climb  the  mountain  ridges. 
In  this  way  all  those  formations  enumerated  in  preceding 


46  RELICS    FROM    THE    WRECK 

chapters,  have  been  examined  by  those  who  make  nature 
their  study. 

At  present  we  leave  out  of  view  the  granite  and  other  ig- 
neous rocks ;  also  the  metamorphic  rocks ;  namely,  gneiss, 
mica-schist,  and  clay-slate.  The  number  of  distinct  beds 
above  these  is  no  less  than  fifty-seven,  many  of  which  are  sev- 
eral hundred  feet  thick.  Of  course  these  beds  do  not  occur  in 
a  regular  series  one  above  the  other  ;  were  this  the  case,  the 
crust  of  the  earth  would  resemble  the  concentric  layers  of  an 
onion,  and  would  be  much  beyond  ten  miles  thick.  They 
lie  in  patch-like  masses  ;  generally  speaking,  the  more  an- 
cient are  the  most  extensive,  and  the  more  recent  the  most 
circumscribed.  All  these  beds  bear  distinct  evidence  of 
their  formation  under  water.  This  cannot  be  disputed,  if 
we  are  to  take  present  nature  for  our  guide.  The  rocks  of 
these  ancient  seas,  lakes,  and  rivers,  present  the  same  ap- 
pearances at  this  distant  date,  that  are  observed  in  estuaries, 
the  margins  of  lakes,  and  the  shores  of  the  ocean  at  the 
present  day.  The  fine  mud  is  seen  in  thin  layers  as  it  ori- 
ginally subsided  to  the  bottom  of  the  waters.  The  sand- 
stones bear  the  Impress  of  the  receding  wave  on  the  ancient 
sea-beach.  Nay,  the  surface  of  the  beds  are  sometimes 
pitted  with  the  lieavy  rain-drops  that  have  fallen  upon 
tliem,  when  yet  expanses  of  loose  sand,  and  exposed  to  the 
weather. 

It  is  not  more  certain  that  these  stratified  rocks  are  of 
aqueous  origin,  than  that  the  various  formations  have  been 
deposited  in  succession.  The  evidence  of  this  remark  will 
be  more  fully  brought  out  in  illustrating  points  that  are 
not  yet  referred  to.  Meanwhile,  it  may  suffice  to  state,  that 
this  is  proved  both  from  the  mineralogical  character  of  the 
formations,  and  their  fossil  contents.  Not  only  is  this  true 
of  the  various  formations,  or  groups  of  strata ;  as  a  general 
principle  it  is  also  true  of  the  members  of  these  formations. 
These  fifty-seven  beds  are  not  simply  proved  to  be  of  aque- 


OP   A   FORMER   WORLD.  47 

ous  origin,  but  also  to  have  been  deposited  in  succession, 
The  same  rock,  or  its  equivalent,  in  other  parts  of  the 
world,  would  be  deposited  during  or  about  the  same  period ; 
but  this  was  not  the  case  with  rocks  whose  positions  in  the 
scale  were  apart  from  each  other.  To  illustrate  this :  The 
British  chalk  beds,  and  their  foreign  equivalents,  were  de- 
posited during  the  same  period ;  but  the  upper  chalk,  and 
the  London  clay,  were  deposited  in  succession. 

That  this  long  series  of  rocks  occupied  numerous  ages 
in  accumulating,  is  obvious,  first,  from  the  fact,  that  many 
of  them  are  of  enormous  thickness.  Secondly,  each  group 
required  for  its  perfection,  at  least  two  (in  many  instances 
a  greater  number)  changes  of  land  and  water.  Now  judg- 
ing from  the  operations  of  nature  in  the  historic  period,  we 
may  conclude  that  these  changes  were  gradual ;  and  if  grad- 
ual— indeed  many  of  the  rocks  bear  internal  evidence  to  the 
fact — who  can  reckon  the  time  consumed  in  their  forma- 
tion? 

The  second  argument  in  favor  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
globe,  is  drawn  from  the  nature  of  the  strata,  or  their  min- 
eralogical  character.  Under  this  argument  we  do  not  in- 
clude those  rocks  that  are  composed,  to  any  extent,  of  or- 
ganic remains ;  their  proper  place  is  in  connection  with  the 
next.  The  rocks  of  which  we  now  speak,  namely,  the  coarse 
and  fine  sandstones — the  beds  of  shale,  marl,  clay,  slates, 
&c.,  are  composed  of  older  rocks.  Let  us  take  the  old  red 
sandstone  as  an  example.  The  conglomerate,  so  largely  de- 
veloped in  this  system,  is  not  a  rock  composed  of  new  ma- 
terials ;  the  geologist  recognises  the  pebbles  of  which  it  is 
almost  entirely  made  up,  as  belonging  to  rocks  lower  in  the 
series.  And  the  finer  beds  that  accompany  and  overlie  the 
conglomerate,  are  obviously,  in  many  instances,  composed  of 
the  same  material  ground  into  small  particles.  These  illus- 
trations apply  to  the  whole  class  of  rocks  of  which  we  are  now 
treating.  The  material  of  which  they  are  composed,  whether 


48  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

in  its  present  combination  in  the  shape  of  shale,  clay, 
flags,  or  sandstone,  has,  in  every  instance,  heen  associated 
with,  or  constituted  entirely,  the  rocks  that  precede  each 
other  in  the  series. 

These  remarks  raise  several  questions,  each  of  which  leads 
us  to  draw  largely  upon  time.  Before  the  great  conglom- 
erate, the  lowest  member  of  the  old  red  sandstone,  was  de- 
posited, the  pebbles  of  which  it  is  principally  composed  must 
have  existed  in  the  shape  of  quartz  rock  in  beds  or  masses ; 
and  truly  they  must  have  occupied  large  areas  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  as  it  then  was.  These  masses  must  have 
been  broken  up  into  fragments  of  all  sizes,  probably  by  in- 
ternal commotions,  aided  by  the  influence  of  water. 

The  conglomerates  deposited,  we  must  find  time  for  the 
formation  of  the  sandstone.  The  beds  of  this  rock  are  often 
very  thick,  and  are  exceedingly  numerous.  The  matter 
of  which  they  are  composed  originally  existed  as  rock,  and 
through  long  exposure  to  the  atmosphere,  the  shoivers  of 
heaven,  l/ie  continuing"  ripple  of  running  water,  and  the 
incessant  beat  of  the  ocean  wave,  it  has  been  disengaged 
from  its  original  combinations,  carried  downward  to  the 
ocean,  and  after  being  held  for  a  time  in  mechanical  or 
chemical  solution  by  the  water,  is-  spread  out  upon  its 
bottom.  This  is  not  the  work  of  a  few  years.  But  how 
are  the  demands  upon  time  increased,  when  we  reflect  that 
rocks  thus  formed  by  slow  degrees,  are  consolidated,  heaved 
upward,  exposed  to  the  elements,  and  by  partial  decay  sup- 
ply the  material  for  beds  higher  in  the  series,  and  which 
pass  through  the  same  tedious  processes  in  their  forma- 
tion? 

Perhaps  the  immense  beds  of  shale,  and  clay,  that  inter- 
mingle with  the  harder  rocks,  required  a  period  to  accumu- 
late, little  short  of  that  which  must  be  granted  to  the  sand- 
stones. The  material  of  which  they  are  composed  has  also 
been  supplied  by  mechanical  and  chemical  causes,  and,  in 


OP   A   FORMER    WORLD.  49 

course  of  time,  accumulated  to  the  extent  we  find  them  de- 
veloped in  the  various  formations. 

The  mineralogical  character  of  the  rocks,  then,  unques- 
tionably prove  their  formation  to  have  been  slow,  and  con- 
tinued over  a  period  of  time  to  us  immeasurable. 

The  third  argument  in  favor  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
globe  is  drawn  from  the  fossil  contents  of  the  strata.  The 
strata  enumerated  are  more  or  less  fossiliferous ;  very  few 
of  them  are  entirely  destitute  of  organic  remains.  In  the 
older  rocks  we  have  fishes,  shells,  and  plants :  in  the  more 
recent,  shells  in  greater  abundance,  plants  in  large  quan- 
tities, and  bones  of  quadrupeds  and  birds,  are  associated 
with  the  impressions  and  skeletons  of  fishes.  The  pres- 
ence of  these  remains  and  the  nature  of  them,  lead  us  to  as- 
sign a  much  longer  period  for  the  depositing  of  the  rocks  in 
which  they  occur,  than  is  generally  allowed. 

There  are  fishes  of  all  sizes  and  various  ages  ;  and  like 
the  fishes  in  the  present  seas,  they  must  have  acquired  time 
to  arrive  at  maturity.  The  position  in  which  they  are  fre- 
quently found,  when  their  stony  matrix  is  opened,  indi- 
cates that  they  have  sunk  in  the  mud  of  the  sea-bottom,  and 
been  overlaid  with  newer  sediment.  This  was  the  work  of 
time.  And  the  time  required  for  the  depositing  of  one  fish 
formation,  must  be  multiplied  by  the  number  of  such  for- 
mations the  crust  of  the  earth  contains.  The  same  line  of 
argument  is  applicable  to  the  fossil  shells,  plants,  and 
bones  that  are  scattered  so  profusely  throughout  the  strata. 

In  carrying  out  this  argument  we  must  refer  to  the  fact 
that  some-  rocks  of  the  series  are  entirely,  or  in  great  part, 
composed  of  animal  or  vegetable  remains.  The  coal  is  a 
familiar  illustration.  That  this  rock  is  composed  of  vege- 
table matter,  is  now  universally  acknowledged.  In  the 
sandstone  and  shales  that  occur  in  the  coal  beds,  many  plants, 
in  fragments,  are  imbedded :  but  when  the  coal  is  examined 
no  doubt  rests  on  the  mind  but  that  it  is  wholly  composed 


50  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

plants  and  trees.  By  a  lately  invented  process,  this  exam- 
ination is  carried  on  with  great  accuracy.  The  coal  is 
sliced  into  thin  leaves,  and  placed  under  a  powerful  glass. 
In  this  way  the  peculiar  character  of  the  stem  under  exam- 
ination is  at  once  recognised,  and  the  fact  established  that 
the  coal  is  of  vegetable  origin.  An  obvious  inference  is 
drawn  from  this  fact.  The  growth  of  these  plants  and  trees 
required  time  ;  and  the  produce  of  many  generations  was  re- 
quired to  make  up  even  a  thin  bed  of  coal,  the  collecting 
and  consolidating,  therefore,  of  only  one  bed,  must  have 
stretched  over  a  long  period.  It  may  be  granted  that  vege- 
tation, during  the  epoch  of  the  earth's  history  of  which  we 
are  now  treating,  was  more  rapid  and  luxuriant ;  Still  our 
conclusion  is  not  affected  much  thereby. 

Some  limestones  are  known  to  be  composed  almost  en- 
tirely of  organic  remains.  The  exuvice,  of  creatures,  all  too 
minute  to  be  detected  by  the  unaided  eye,  are  collected  in 
such  masses  as  to  furnish  beds  of  rock  many  feet  thickt 
It  is  superfluous  to  say,  that  the  formation  of  such  rocks 
must  have  been  the  work  of  time.  Again,  it  is  well  known 
that  corals  enter  largely  into  the  composition  of  limestone. 
In  some  instances,  it  would  appear  that  the  rock  is  one  mass 
of  these  zoophytes.  Now,  from  all  we  have  been  able  to 
learn  of  the  habits  and  modes  of  operation  of  these  diminu- 
tive laborers,  we  are  left  to  conclude,  that  the  general  progress 
of  the  mass  of  calcareous  matter  which  they  secrete,  is 
slow.  It  has  been  calculated  that  the  growth  of  six  inches 
requires  a  century.*  Let  the  thickness  of  the  beds,  and  the 
number  that  occur  in  the  earth's  crust,  be  taken  into  account, 
and  we  again  find  ourselves  driven  backward  into  an  un- 
known antiquity. 

In  connexion  with  this  argument,  there  is  still  another 
point  to  which  reference  should,  in  justice,  be  made.  The 
fossils  that  exist  in  a  given  formation,  are  not  identical  with 


Williams'  Missionary  Enterprise  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  p.  9. 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD.  51 

those  that  exist  in  the  overlying  group.  They  may,  and  do 
present  resemblances,  more  or  less  near;  but  there  is  a 
change ;  and  such  a  change  as  indicates  that  between  the 
close  of  the  one  formation,  and  the  opening  of  the  other,  a 
considerable  period  has  elapsed.  This  remark  is  applicable 
to  the  formations  of  the  palaeozoic  and  secondary  periods  - 
hence  each  group  has  its  characteristic  fossils.  It  is  also 
true  in  regard  to  the  rocks  of  the  tertiary  period,  viewed  as 
groups.  But  it  does  not  apply  to  the  upper  beds  of  the 
secondary,  and  lower  beds  of  the  tertiary  formations. 
The  time  that  transpired  between  the  depositing  of  these, 
was  such  as,  together  with  the  changes  that  took  place,  to 
break  the  connexion  entirely  between  the  fossils  of  the  one 
and  those  of  the  other.  No  species  found  in  the  chalk,  the 
upper  bed  of  the  secondary  formation,  extends  into  the  Lon- 
don clay,  the  lowest  in  the  tertiary  groups.  There  is  here 
a  break,  of  a  much  greater  extent  than  those  that  appear  to 
exist  between  each  formation  and  its  successor,  of  the  older 
periods ;  and  the  length  of  time  which  it  represents,  though 
uncertain,  must  be  great. 

The  only  other  argument  produced*, in  favor  of  the  anti- 
quity of  the  globe,  is  derived  from  the  relative  position  in 
which  the  various  groups  that  compose  the  crust  are  placed. 
Groups  of  rock  either  lie  comformable  or  uncomformable 
upon  each  other.  There  are  few  that  lie  conformable,  that 
is,  as  you  would  place  one  volume  fair  upon  another.  But 
even  when  this  is  the  case,  there  are  certain  indications  at 
the  junction  that  demonstrate,  that  the  surface  of  the 
lower  group  was  long  consolidated,  and  exposed  to  the  ele- 
ments,  before  it  was  overlaid  by  the  beds  of  the  upper- 
Thus,  if  we  find  the  surface-rock  partially  decomposed  and 
removed,  what  remains,  hollowed  out  by  water,  and  these 
hollows  occasionally  containing  loose  pebbles,  we  may  reason- 
ably conclude  that  these  effects— the  result  of  time — were 
produced  before  the  overlying  rock  had  been  deposited. 


04  RELICS  FROM  THE  WRECK 

O,  how  varied  are  the  aspects  this  planet  presents  in  the 
course  of  this  vast  revolution !  The  first  certain  glance  we 
obtain  presents  to  our  view  a  world  whose  seas  teemed  with 
living  inhabitants,  chiefly  of  the  fish  tribes,  of  various  size, 
of  the  most  fantastic  shapes,  and  of  the  most  elegant  col- 
ors. Perishable  as  the  last  quality  is,  we  have  seen  rise, 
phoenix-like,  from  the  plates  or  scales  of  one  of  these  fossil 
fishes,  under  the  influence  of  a  powerful  glass,  in  hues  that 
rival  those  of  the  rainbow.  Meanwhile,  the  land  presents 
but  a  scanty  vegetation,  which  may  give  shelter  and  sup- 
port to  living  creatures,  but  none  of  which  come  within 
the  sphere  of  our  vision.  Another  turn,  and  the  earth  is 
clothed  with  a  luxuriant  and  extensively  distributed  vege- 
tion,  resembling  that  of  the  tropics  in  the  present  time ; 
while  the  seas  and  lakes  swarm  with  shell  and  other 
fishes.  We  look  again,  and  behold  creatures  of  monstrous 
size,  and  singular  conformation,  basking  on  the  banks  of 
rivers,  gamboling  in  the  fenny  pools,  crawling  on  the  moist 
earth,  or  floating  through  the  air.  Another  glance,  and 
the  noble  forests  are  seen  to  give  shelter  to  quadrupeds, 
in  comparison  to  which  the  largest  of  the  present  time 
appear  dwarfish.  These  browse  upon  the  leaves  and  tender 
sprouts,  or  burrow  in  the  earth  in  search  of  roots.  Still 
another  glance,  and  these  creatures  are  being  replaced  by 
others  more  nearly  approaching  the  type  of  living  crea- 
tion. 

In  all  this,  there  is  the  amplest  evidence  that  the  Crea- 
tor of  the  "  heaven  and  the  earth"  is  great,  and  wise,  and 
good.  His  power  is  felt  in  every  change,  His  wisdom  is 
manifest  in  every  arrangement ;  and  every  plant,  and  tree, 
and  creature,  speaks  of  His  goodness. 


OF    A   FORMER    WORLD.  53 


A  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION 


TO 


TILGATE  FOREST,  A.D.  2000. 

BY  THOMAS  HOOD,  ESQ.,  WITH  EMENDATIONS  AND  ADDITIONS, 
BY    AN    ANTIQUARIAN. 

TIME  has  been  called  the  test  of  truth,  and  some  old 
verities  have  made  him  testy  enough.  Scores  of  ancient 
authorities  has  he  exploded  like  Rupert?s  drops,  by  a  blow 
upon  their  tails  :  but  at  the  same  time  he  has  bleached 
many  black-looking  stories  into  white  ones,  and  turned 
some  tremendous  bouncers  into  what  the  French  call  ac- 
complished facts.  Look  at  the  Magatherium,  which  a 
century  ago  even  credulity  would  have  scouted !  The 
headstrong  fiction  which  Mrs.  Malaprop  treated  as  a  mere 
allegory  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  is  now  4he  Iguanodon  / 
To  venture  a  prophecy,  there  are  more  such  prodigies  to 
come  true. 

Suppose  it  a  fine  morning  Anno  Domini  2000,  and 
the  royal  geologists,  with  Von  Hammer  at  their  head  — 
pioneers,  excavators,  borers,  trappists,  greywackers,  carbo- 
nari, field-sparrers,  and  what  not,  are  marching  to  have  a 
grand  field-day  in  Tilgate  Forest.  A  good  cover  has  been 
marked  out  for  a  find.  Well !  to  work  they  go ;  hammer 
and  tongs,  banging,  splitting,  digging,  shoveling,  puffing 
like  a  smith's  bellows — hot  as  his  forge — dusty  as  millers 
— muddy  as  eels — what  with  sandstone  and  gritstone, 
and  pudding-stone,  blue  clay  and  brown,  marl  and  bog- 


54  RELICS  FROM    THE    WRECK 

earth — now  unsextonizing  a  petrified  bachelor's  button — 
now  a  stone  torn-tit  —  now  a  marble  gooseberry -bush — 
now  one  of  St.  Cuthbert's  beads* — now  a  couple  of  Kent- 
ish cherries,  all  stone,  turned  into  Scotch  pebbles — now  a 
fossil  red  herring — now  one  of  St.  Patrick's  petrified  frogs. 
But  these  are  geological  bagatelles  !  We  want  the  organic 
remains  of  one  of  Og's  bulls,  or  Gog's  hogs — that's  the 
Mastodon — or  Magog's  pet  lizard,  that's  the  Iguanodon — 
or  Polyphemu's  elephant,  that's  the  Magatherium.  So  in 
they  go  again,  with  crash  like  Thor's  Scandinavian  ham- 
mer, and  a  touch  of  the  earthquake,  and  lo  !  another  and  a 
greater  Bony-part  to  exhume !  Huzza  !  shouts  the  field- 
sparrer.  Hold  on,  cries  one,  let  go,  shouts  another — there 
he  comes,  says  a  third — no,  he  don't,  says  a  fourth.  Where's 
his  nose  ? 

What  fatiguing  work  it  is  only  to  look  at  him,  he's  so 
prodigious !  There,  there  now,  easy !  Just  hoist  a  bit  — 
a  little,  a  little  more.  Pray,  pray,  pray  take  care  of  his 
lumbar  processes,  they're  very  friable — Never  you  fear,  zur 
— if  he  be  friable  I'll  ate  'em.. 

Bravo !  there's  his  cranium — Is  that  brain,  I  wonder,  or 
mud?  no, 'tis—  —  !  Now  for  the  cervical  vertebraa.  Stop 
— somebody  hold  his  jaw.  That's  your  sort!  there's  his 
scapula.  Now,  then,  dig,  boys,  dig,  dig  into  his  ribs.  Work 
away,  lads — you  shall  have  oceans  of  strong  beer,  and 
mountains  of  bread  and  cheese,  when  you've  got  him  out. 
We  can't  be  above  a  hundred  yards  from  his  tail !  Huzza ! 
there's  his ! !  I  wish  I  could  shout  from  here  to  Lon- 

*  They  cormnonly  occur  singly  in  the  northern  counties,  passing  under 
the  denominations  of  "  wheel-stones,"  and  "  St.  Cuthbert's  beads,"  from 
having  been  strung  as  beads,  and  formerly  used  as  rosaries.  Hence  the 
lines  in  Marmion : 

"  On  a  rock  by  Lindisfern 
St  Cuthbert  sits,  and  toils  to  frame 
The  sea-born  beads  that  bear  his  name." 


OF   A   FORMER    WORLD.  55 

don.     There's  his ! ! !    Work  away,  my  good  fellows  — 

never  give  up  ;  we  shall  all  go  down  to  posterity.  It's  the 
first — the  first — the  first  nobody  knows  what — that's  been 
discovered  in  the  world. 

Here,  lend  me  a  spade,  and  I'll  help.  So,  I'll  tell  you 
what,  we're  all  Columbuses,  every  man  Jack  of  us !  but  I 
can't  dig — it  breaks  my  back.  Never  mind  :  there  he  is 
— and  his  tail  with  a  broad  arrow  at  the  end  !  It's  a  Hy- 
Iceosaurus  f  but  no — that  scapula's  a  wing — it's  the  Pte- 
rodactyle — by  Saint  George,  it's  a  flying  dragon. 

Huzza !  shouts  Boniface,  the  landlord  of  the  village  inn 
that  has  the  Saint  George  and  the  Dragon  as  his  sign. 

Huzza  !  echoes  every  Knight  of  the  Garter. 

Huzza!  cries  each  schoolboy  who  has  read  the  Seven 
Champions. 

Huzza,  huzza  !  roar  the  illustrators  of  Schiller's  Kampf 
mit  dem  Drauchen. 

Huzza,  huzza,  huzza !  chorus  the  descendants  of  Moor  of 
Moor  Hall. 
•  The  legends  are  all  true,  then  ? 

Not  a  bit  of  it  !  cries  a  stony-hearted  professor  of  fossil 
osteology.  Look  at  the  teeth,  they're  all  molar  ;  he's  a  My- 
lodon!  That  creature  ate  neither  sheep,  nor  oxen,  nor 
children,  nor  tender  virgins,  nor  hoary  pilgrims,  nor  even 
geese  and  turkeys — he  lived  on — 

What  ?  what  ?  what  ?  they  all  exclaim.  Why,  on  raw 
potatoes,  and  undressed  salads,  to-be-sure ! 

In  .Lucretius,  we  have  a  description  of  quadrupeds,  rec- 
ognized as  existing  previous  to  man  and  the  present  race  of 
animals,  which  might  almost  warrant  the  belief  that  some 
fossil  gigantic  skeleton  had  met  his  eye  : 

"  Hence,  doubtless,  earth  prodigious  forms  at  first 
Gender'd,  of  face  and  members  most  grotesque ; 
Monsters,  —  half-man,  half-woman— 


56  RELICS    FROM   THE    WRECK 

Footless,  and  Landless,  void  of  mouth  or  eye, 
Or,  from  misjunction,  maim'd  of  limb  with  limb. 

— Many  a  tribe  has  sunk  supprest, 
Powerless  its  kind  to  gender." 


APPEIDIX. 

ON  THE 

SCENERY  IN  A  PATCH  OF  INFINITE  SPACE.* 

(DEDUCED  FROM  AUTHENTIC  SOURCES.) 

"  Now  trace  each  orb  with  telescopic  eyes, 
And  solve  the  eternal  clock-work  of  the  skies." 

THE  SUN  AND  SOLAR  PHENOMENA  OF  OUR  SYSTEM. — The 
sun — the  central  luminary  of  our  system — the  scource  of 
light  and  heat — appears  to  prosecute  daily  a  stately  procession 
through  the  heavens,  owing  to  the  rotation  of  the  earth 
upon  its  axis,  ascending  like  an  intensely  brilliant  hall  from 
the  eastern  horizon,  and  declining  towards  the  western. 
Excepting  the  regions  bordering  on  the  poles,  every  part  of 
our  globe,  within  the  interval  of  twenty-four  hours,  is 
brought  beneath  the  action  of  the  solar  rays,  and  withdrawn 
from  them — its  "mountains  and  all  hills,  its  fruitful  trees 
and  all  cedars."  The  unfailing  continuity  and  nice  precis- 
ion with  which  this  has  transpired,  age  after  age,  strikingly 
illustrates  the  stability  of  the  natural  laws. 

The  decline  of  the  sun  to  the  horizon  is  as  imposing  a  spec- 
tacle as  his  advance  to  it,  when  the  atmosphere  favors  the  ex- 
hibition of  his  descent.  The  most  gorgeous  sunsets  are  those 
of  the  West  Indies,  during  the  rainy  season ;  the  sky  is 
then  sublimely  mantled  with  gigantic  masses  of  clouds, 

*  Infinite  space  belongs  to  God,  and  to  God  alone.  Infinite  Power  has 
filled  that  space  with  suns  and  systems,  bat  there  has  been  room  for  all.— 
Profettor  Mitchell. 


58  SCENERY  IN  A  PATCH 

which  are  tinged  with  the  glare  of  the  descending  luminary, 
and  which  seem  to  be  impatiently  waiting  for  his  departure 
in  order  to  discharge  their  pent-up  wrath  on  the  bosom  of 
the  night.  In  the  South  Atlantic  the  sunset  has  a  milder 
and  more  sober  aspect.  In  the  Eastern  tropics  it  has  gene- 
rally an  overpowering  fierceness,  as  though  the  last  expres- 
sion of  the  solar  heat  should  be  the  greatest.  But  during 
the  summer,  in  temperate  latitudes  there  is  often  a  serenely 
beautiful  horizon,  a  mellowness  of  light,  together  with  a  rich 
and  taried  coloring  on  the  sky,  which  combine  to  render  the 
European  sunsets  far  more  attractive  than  those  which  are 
intertropical.  The  milder  radiance  of  the  "  great  light " 
in  parting  from  us  presents  a  picture  to  the  eye  of  the  sen- 
timent of  the  All-Merciful,  "Again,  a  little  while  and  ye 
shall  see  me."  And  how  open  to  observation  are  wise  Con- 
trivance and  bountiful  Design  in  the  unvarying  position  of 
the  sun  in  the  centre  of  our  system,  and  the  axical  rotation 
of  his  tributaries,  which  not  only  guarantee  the  regular 
return  of  their  surfaces  to  his  presence,  but  the  undimin- 
ished  power  and  splendor  of  his  beams !  If,  adopting  the 
nebular  hypothesis,  we  suppose  the  masses  of  the  sun  and  of 
the  planets  to  have  been  gradually  formed,  under  control  of 
the  law  of  attraction,  the  question  still  arises,  how  it  came 
to  pass,  that  the  self-luminous  matter  was  collected  into  one 
mass  at  the  centre,  and  not  gathered  into  many  masses  like 
the  matter  of  the  planets.  So  striking  did  this  circum- 
stance appear  to  Newton,  that  he  remarked  in  his  first  let- 
ter to  Bentley  :  "  I  do  not  think  it  explicable  by  mere  nat- 
ural causes,  but  am  forced  to  ascribe  it  to  the  counsel  and 
contrivance  of  a  Voluntary  Agent." 

The  mean  distance  of  the  sun  from  our  earth,  as  deter- 
mined by  observation  of  the  transit  of  Venus,  is  ninety-Jive 
millions  of  miles ;  and  according  to  Laplace,  this  must  be 
within  iV  °f  the  true  distance,  so  that  no  error  is  involved 
either  way  greater  than  about  a  million  of  miles.  The  im- 


OF  INFINITE  SPACE.  59 

.4 

mense  magnitude  of  the  solar  body  appears  from  the  fact 
that  he  occupies  so  much  space  in  the  heavens,  and  presents 
such  a  stately  aspect,  with  so  vast  an  interval  between  us.  If 
a  locomotive  had  been  started  five  centuries  and  a  half  ago, 
and  had  been  travelling  incessantly  at  the  rate  of  twenty 
miles  an  hour,  it  would  only  now  have  accomplished  a  space 
equal  to  that  which  lies  between  the  terrestrial  and  the  solar 
surface.  Though  light  comes  from  the  former  to  the  latter  in 
about  eight  minutes,  a  cannon  ball  would  not  perform  the 
same  feat,  retaining  its  full  force,  under  twenty-two  years. 
That  an  object  therefore  should  be  so  splendidly  visible  as 
the  sun,  so  far  removed,  and  should  so  powerfully  influence 
us  with  light  and  heat,  argues  the  stupendous  dimensions  of 
his  volume.  His  direct  light  is  supposed  to  be  equal  to 
that  of  5570  wax  candles  placed  at  the  distance  of  one 
foot  from  an  object  •  and  so  great  is  the  power  of  his  rays, 
that  some  of  the  men  employed  in  constructing  the  Ply- 
mouth Breakwater,  had  their  caps  burnt  in  a  diving  bell, 
thirty  feet  under  water,  owing  to  their  sitting  under  the 
focal  point  of  the  convex  glasses  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
machine.  His  real  diameter  of  882,000  miles  is  equal  to 
111-J-  times  that  of  our  earth;  "and  his  circumference  of 
3,764,600  miles  describes  a  bulk  nearly  a  million  and 
a  quarter  times  larger  than  our  globe,  and  above  five 
hundred  times  greater  than  the  united  volume  of  all  the 
planetary  bodies  of  our  system  that  revolve  around  him.  If 
his  mass  occupied  the  place  of  the  earth,  it  would  fill  up  the 
entire  orbit  of  our  moon,  and  extend  into  space  as  far  again 
as  the  path  of  that  satellite.  The  density  of  the  solar  sub- 
stance is,  however,  far  less  than  that  of  the  matter  of  our 
globe.  If  the  two  bodies  could  be  weighed  in  a  balance,  the 
weight  of  the  sun  would  not  preponderate  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  his  bulk,  but  be  only  354,936  times  heavier.  This 
proportion  is  about  a  fourth  less  than  that  of  his  magni- 
tude ;  so  that  the  same  extent  of  solar  substance  would  be 


60  SCENERY  IN  A  PATCH 

found  four  times  lighter  than  the  same  extent  of  terrestrial 
substance. 

THE  MOON  AND  LUNAR  PHENOMENA  OF  OUR  SYSTEM. — 
Next  to  the  greater  light  that  rules  the  day,  the  most  useful 
and  interesting  to  us  of  all  the  bodies  in  our  universe,  is 
the  lesser  light  that  rules  the  night.  The  proximity  of  the 
moon,  the  relation  in -which  she  is  linked  to  the  earth,  the 
power  she  exerts  upon  our  ocean  in  drawing  up  its  billows, 
and  the  great  importance  of  the  lunar  theory  to  safe  naviga- 
tion, have  intently  fixed  the  eye  of  science  upon  her  orb ; 
while  the  mild  radiance  with  which  she  shines  in  the  heav- 
ens, the  advantage  of  her  light  to  the  terrestrial  traveller, 
and  the  beauty  and  regularity  of  her  changing  phases,  have 
elicited  the  admiration  of  barbarian  and  polished  races. 
The  unfailing  performance  within  a  definite  period  of  a 
synodical  revolution,  or  the  cycle  included  between  each  con- 
junction with  the  sun,  when  she  is  invisible,  called  synodi- 
cal, from  the  Greek  word  signifying  a  coming  together,  has 
rendered  the  moon  a  convenient  time-keeper  to  men  in  rude 
states  of  society,  and  won  for  her  the  love  and  respect  of 
savage  tribes.  Among  the  wandering  hordes  of  the  wes- 
tern continent  such  a  number  of  moons  measures  the  duration 
of  a  journey,  and  the  lapse  of  events ;  and  successive  lunar 
appearances  are  discriminated  by  coincident  terrestrial  oc- 
currences, as  the  wild-strawberry  moon,  the  wild  rice-gath- 
ering moon,  the  ice-moon,  the  deer-rutting  nloon,  and  the 
leaf -falling  moon.  Some  of  the  sacred  ceremonies  of  the 
Jews,  in  the  early  periods  of  their  history,  were  regulated  by 
the  sign  of  the  lunar  crescent  in  the  heavens,  and  the  rab- 
bins relate,  that  persons  were  stationed  on  the  tops  of  the 
mountains  to  watch  for  the  first  appearance  of  the  moon, 
which  event  was  proclaimed  by  signal  fires  throughout  the 
land.  For  the  last  six  thousand  years  the  eye  of  man  has 
gazed  with  delight  upon  her  face,  whether  in  courtly  or  in 
rustic  life,  from  old  baronial  halls  or  cottages  obscure.  The 


OF  INFINITE  SPACE.  61 

meek  splendor,  the  quietude,  the  fidelity,  of  which  the  lu- 
minary is  a  visible  image,  bewitch  the  senses,  excite  the 
imagination,  and  have  originated  some  of  the  most  captiva- 
ting strains  of  poetic  description,  among  which  the  Trojan 
bivouac  scene  in  the  Iliad  still  stands  peerless. 

"  The  troops  exulting  sat  in  order  round, 
And  beaming  fires  illumin'd  all  the  ground. 
As  when  the  moon,  refulgent -lamp  of  night, 
O'er  heaven's  clear  azure  spreads  her  sacred  light ; 
When  not  a  breath  disturbs  the  deep  serene, 
And  not  a  cloud  o'ercasts  the  solemn  scene, 
Around  her  throne  the  vivid  planets  roll, 
And  stars  uunumber'd  gild  the  glowing  pole  ; 
O'er  the  dark  trees  a  yellower  verdure  shed, 
And  tip  with  silver  every  mountain's  head ; 
Then  shine  the  vales,  the  rocks  in  prospect  rise, 
A  flood  of  glory  bursts  from  all  the  skies ; 
The  qonscious  swains,  rejoicing  in  the  sight, 
Eye  the  blue  vault,  and  bless  the  useful  light." 

An  imaginary  soliloquy,  put  into  the  mouth  of  Milton  by 
a  living  writer,  strikingly  expresses  the  emotions  of  such  a 
mind,  upon  first  perceiving  the  curtains  about  to  fall  be- 
tween him  and  the  resplendence  of  day  and  night,  through 
the  blindness  that  attended  his  declining  years.  "  Beautiful 
light!  beautiful  lamp  of  heaven!  what  marvel  that  the 
blinded  and  benighted  heathen  should  ignorantly  worship 
thee  ?  What  marvel  that  a  thousand  altars,  in  a  thou- 
sand ages,  should  have  sent  up  their  fumes  of  adoration  unto 
thee,  the  mooned  Ashtaroth — unto  thee,  the  Ephesian  Diana 
— unto  thee,  the  nightly  visitant  of  the  young-eyed  Endy- 
mion  ?  What  marvel,  that  to  those  who  knew  not,  neither 
had  they  heard  of  the  One,  Uncreate,  Invisible,  Eternal, 
thou  shouldst  have  seemed  meet  Deity  to  whom  to  bend  the 
knee,  thou  first  born  offspring  of  his  first  created  gift! 
thou  blessed  emanation  from  his  own  ethereal  glory  !  What 
wonder,  when  I,  his  humble  follower,  his  ardent  though  un- 
worthy worshipper — when  I,  an  honest  though  an  erring 


62  SCENERY  IN  A  PATCH 

Christian,  do  strive  in  vain  to  wean  my  heart  from  love  of 
thee;  indoctrinating  my  spirit,  that  I  may  kiss  the  rod, 
with  which  I  am  assured,  too  well,  He  soon  will  chasten  me, 
in  changing  the  fair  light,  that  glorious  essence  in  which  my 
soul  rejoiceth,  for  one  black,  everlasting,  self-imparted  mid- 
night ?  Yet  so  it  shall  be.  A  few  more  revolutions  of 
these  puissant  planets,  a  few  more  mutations  of  the  sweet 
returning  seasons,  and  to  me  there  shall  be  no  change  again 
on  earth  for  ever !  no  choice  between  the  fairest  and  the 
foulest !  no  difference  of  night  or  day !  no  charm  in  the 
rich  gorgeousness  of  flowery  summer,  above  the  sere  and 
mournful  autumn !  no  cheery  aspect  in  the  piled  hearth  of 
winter !  no  sweet  communion  with  the  human  eye  compas- 
sionate; no  intercourse  with  the  great  intellect  of  old — 
dead,  but  surviving  still  in  their  sublime  and  solid  pages !" 

Our  moon  is  situated  in  external  space,  .at  a  mean  dis- 
tance of  237  thousand  miles  from  the  earth.  Great  as  this 
interval  is,  when  compared  with  the  terrestrial  extent,  it  is 
only  about  Toirth  part  the  earth's  distance  from  our  sun, 
and  little  more  than  one  fourth  the  diameter  of  the  solar 
body.  It  is  owing  to  this  proximity  to  us,  that  she  occu- 
pies so  large  a  space  in  the  heavens,  for  the  lunar  diameter 
is  only  2160  miles.  Our  own  globe  is  equal  in  magnitude 
to  /orty-mne  such  bodies,  and  the  sun  to  near  seventy  mil- 
lions. If  loosened  from  the  action  of  other  forces,  the  earth 
and  the  moon  would  fall  together  by  the  power  of  mutual 
attraction ;  but  the  earth  being  not  only  the  larger  body, 
but  most  dense,  and  its  attraction  being  far  the  most  power- 
ful, the  moon  would  descend  to  it,  passing  the  intervening 
space  in  less  than  five  days,  our  own  planet  courteously  ad- 
vancing about  the  distance  of  its  semidiameter  to  meet  the 
Satellite. 

To  the  inhabitants  of  New- York  or  Boston,  whose  streets 
are  splendidly  illuminated  at  night,  the  presence  of  the  moon 
is  more  a  matter  of  ornament  than  of  use.  But  it  is  other- 


OF  INFINITE  SPACE.  63 

wise  when  the  day  has  closed  with  the  mariner  at  sea ;  the 
peasant  homeward  tracking  his  way  through  the  drifted 
snow,  the  traveler  in  a  strange  country ;  and  the  barbarous 
migratory  hordes  of  men.  To  such,  when  the  day  has  de- 
parted, the  moon  pursues  her  nightly  circuit  through  the 
heavens  in  beauty  and  brightness,  as  a  friend  in  need,  chas- 
ing away  the  gloom,  revealing  the  features  of  the  scenery? 
and  disclosing  the  right  path.* 

THE  STARS  OF  OUR    SYSTEM,  AND    OF  OTHER  SYSTEMS, 

THEIR  NUMBER,  DISTANCES,   AND   MAGNITUDE. "  From    the 

earliest  ages,"  says  Professor  Mitchell,  "these  bright  and 
beautiful  orbs,  which  fill  the  heavens,  have  fixed  the  atten- 
tion— fastened  the  gaze — excited  the  curiosity  of  every  con- 
templative mind.  From  the  Chaldean  shepherd,  who,  while 
he  watched  his  flocks  by  night,  was  wrapped  in  the  contem- . 
plation  of  these  bright  clusters  that  rose  and  silently  pur- 
sued their  solemn  course  through  Heaven,  and  quietly  sank 
beneath  the  horizon, — from  that  early  day,  through  all  ages, 
down  to  the  modern  Astronomer,  who,  with  his  mighty  in- 
struments, penetrates  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  creation,  these 
objects  have  ever  been  regarded  with  peculiar  interest  and 
delight."— New  York  Tribune. 

The  prevailing  ideas  of  men  concerning  the  multitude  of 
the  stars,  though  founded  upon  wrong  premises,  are  yet  in 
harmony  with  the  literal  fact,  for  the  conclusion  drawn  from 
the  hasty  observation  of  the  eye,  which  a  persevering  sur- 
vey would  at  once  disprove,  is  itself  established  by  telescopic 
examination.  So  enormous  is  the  number  of  the  stars,  yet 
so  completely  incalculable  are  they,  as  to  admit  of  their 

*  The  comparative  proportion  which  the  light  of  the  moon  leaves  to 
that  of  the  sun  is  a  problem  to  the  solution  of  which  the  attention  of  seve- 
ral philosophers  has  been  directed.  The  whole  heavens  covered  with 
full  moons  would  scarcely  make  daylight.  From  various  experiment* 
that  have  been  made,  it  is  supposed  that  the  lunar  light  is  only  equal  to 
the  300,000th  part  that  of  the  sun. 


64  SCENERY    IN   A   PATCH 

being  joined  with  the  sand  upon  the  sea-shore,  as  a  figure 
of  speech  denoting  a  numeration  which  we  cannot  de- 
fine. The  common  phrase  of  the  Sacred  Yolume,  the  hosts 
of  heaven,  alludes  to  their  multitude ;  and  the  fact  is  ad- 
vanced as  an  illustration  of  the  infinite  grasp  of  the  Crea- 
tor's mind,  that  he  is  acquainted  minutely  with  these  multi- 
tudinous worlds,  which  immeasurably  exceed  our  utmost  es- 
timates. "  He  calleth  them  all  by  names  by  the  greatness 
of  his  might,  for  that  he  is  strong  in  power ;  not  one 
faileth." 

"  There  is,"  says  Professor  Mitchell,  in  one  of  his  inter- 
esting lectures,  "  no  limit  to  the  stars.  Do  they  go  on,  the 
one  behind  the  other,  without  end  ?  I  answer,  no.  Then 
do  you  mean  to  say  there  is  a  limit  to  creation  ?  I  answer, 
no.  I  mean  to  say  that  the  stars  are  grouped  together  in 
mighty  clusters  of  millions  and  millions,  as  distant  from 
our  clusters  as  is  our  sun  from  their  suns.  Herschel  it 
was  that  solved  this  problem.  He  commences  his  investiga- 
tions by  examining  the  most  brilliant  part  of  the  Milky  Way. 
He  takes  a  telescope  and  finds  that  this  spot  yields  to  him 
one  hundred  beautiful  stars,  in  the  distance  appearing  the 
size  of  hazle-nuts.  He  takes  a  greater  Telescope — four  new 
stars  are  brought  up  and  the  others  grow  brighter  and  more 
beautiful.  He  takes  his  forty  feet  telescope,  and  he  sees  all 
clear,  the  stars  shining  like  bright  diamonds,  and  in  the 
shade  beyond,  all  is  blank.  This  at  once  settles  the  ques- 
tion. There  are  no  more  stars  beyond  that  limit,  and,  no 
matter  how  great  the  depths,  he  has  overcome  them  all.  But 
do  we  stop  here  P  I  answer ',  no.  When  Ive  have  reached  the 
utmost  limits  of  our  own  mighty  clusters,  then  it  is  that 
we  begin  an  investigation  of  a  far  different  kind.  We 
pass  the  confines  of  our  own  Universe  and  sweep  on 
through  space,  millions  upon  millions  of  miles,  till,  look- 
ing behind,  we  see  the  stars  that  compose  our  own  system, 
lying  in  one  vast  cluster  ;  but  before,  all  is  blank.  Is  there 


OF    INFINITE    SPACE.  65 

nothing-  there  hid  in  the  dark,  unfathomable  realms? 
There  are  some  dim  hazy  spots  looming  up  in  the  dis- 
tance. Bring  to  our  aid  the  telescope — Lo  !  there  burst 
into  view  tens  of  thousands  suns  and  stars  !  Here  is 
another  Universe  burst  in  upon  us,  and  there  is  not  only 
one;  they  are  scattered  by  hundreds  and  thousands 
through  space.  Let  any  one  look  out  at  night  and  count 
the  stars.  You  can  do  it.  It  has  been  done.  And  no  eye 
has  ever  been  able  to  count  above  the  horizon,  at  one  time, 
over  fifteen  hundred  stars.  How  close  do  they  appear  to 
be,  one  to  another,  and  how  numerous  their  hosts.  Yet 
there,  are  more  of  these  mighty  Universes  scattered  through 
space  than  there  are  stars  in  our  system.*  There  is  one 
in  the  constellation  Hercules,  which  examined  with  a  tele- 
scope of  low  power,  presents  the  appearance  of  a  milky 
spot,  but  ivith  the  mighty  instrument  we  use,  it  is  discov- 
ered to  contain  one  thousand  stars,  occupying  so  small  a 
point  in  space  that  it  would  seem  you  might  almost  grasp 
them  in  your  hand.  Yet  they  are  so  far  separated,  that 
light,  which  travels  twelve  millions  of  miles  in  a  minute, 
requires  ten  thousand  years  to  cross  the  diameter  of  its 
orbit.  These  facts  are  startling ;  yet  we  must  receive  them, 
for  the  evidence  is  so  strong  that  it  becomes  perfectly  irre- 
sistible."— New  York  Tribune. 

However  marvellous  the  statement,  it  is  strictly  true,  that 
when  we  gaze  upon  the  heavens,  observe  the  stars,  and  note 
down  their  positions,  we  are  witnessing  and  chronicling 
their  appearances  in  by-gone  time,  and  not  the  present  aspect 
of  the  phenomena.  The  ray  that  meets  the  eye  from  the 
nearest  siderial  object  brings  intelligence  of  its  past  estate; 
and  that  Past  includes  years  in  relation  to  the  front  ranks  of 
the  stellar  army,  and  ages  with  respect  to  the  general  body. 


*"I  fearlessly  assert,"   saya    Professor  Mitchell,  "that  the  day  will 
never  come  when  the  centre  of  the  entire  Universe  will  be  found  by 


66  SCENERY    IN    A   PATCH 

When  we  reflect  upon  these  facts,  and  remember  that  the 
faint  nebulous  clusters  are  far  more  remote  from  tfie  dis- 
tinct stars  than  they  from  us  —  that  the  light  which  man- 
ifests their  presence  now  may  have  left  its  source  when  the 
Tudor,  Norman,  or  Saxon  race  occupied  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land— we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  immensity  of  space,  and  of 
the  infinity  of  that  being  who  originated  the  great  govern- 
ment of  which  it  is  the  scene. 

We  have  nothing  to  guide  us  respecting  the  magnitude  of 
the  stars  beyond  their  visibility,  when  so  vastly  remote. — 
The  planet  Saturn  is  magnified  by  the  telescope  larger  than 
the  moon  to  the  naked  eye,  though  900  millions  of  miles 
distant ;  but  instrumental  power  fails  in  giving  an  appre- 
ciable magnitude  to  the  stars.  It  brings  countless  multi- 
tudes into  view  hid  from  the  unassisted  sight ;  it  makes  us 
sensible  of  their  presence ;  it  increases  their  brilliancy :  but 
beyond  this,  it  supplies  us  with  no  information  respecting 
their  volume  and  mass.  Halley  remarked,  that  "  the  diani- 
ters  of  Spica  Yirginis  and  Aldebaran  are  so  small,  that  when 
they  happen  to  immerge  behind  the  dark  edge  of  the  moon, 
they  are  so  far  from  losing  their  light  gradually,  as  they 
must  do  if  they  were  of  any  sensible  magnitude,  that  they 
vanish  at  once  with  all  their  lustre,  and  emerge  likewise  in 
a  moment,  not  small  at  first,  but  at  once  appear  with  their 
full  light,  even  although  the  emersion  happen  when  very 
near  the  cusp,  where,  if  they  were  '  four  seconds  in  diameter/ 
they  would  be  many  seconds  of  time  in  getting  entirely  sep- 
arated from  the  limb.  But  the  contrary  appears  to  all 
those  who  have  observed  the  occultations  of  those  bright 
stars."  The  largest  and  most  brilliant  of  the  stars,  if  oc- 
culted at  the  dark  limb  of  the  moon,  Sir  John  Herschel  ob- 
serves, "is,  as  it  were,  extinguished  in  mid-air,  without 
notice  or  visible  cause  for  its  disappearance,  which,  as  it 
happens  instantaneously,  and  without  the  slightest  previous 
diminution  of  its  light,  is  always  surprising ;  and  if  the  star 


OF   INFINITE  SPACE.  67 

be  a  large  and  bright  one;  even  startling  from  its  sudden- 
ness." The  simple  fact  of  the  visibility  of  the  stars  across 
the  mighty  expanse  which  we  know  to  exist  between  them 
and  ourselves,  necessarily  gives  us  high  ideas  of  their  di- 
mensions. Calculations  have  been  made,  from  a  compari- 
son of  the  light  of  the  stars  with  that  of  the  sun,  but  the 
result  can  only  be  regarded  as  a  rude  approximation.  Let 
us  consider  the  case  of  Sirius,  the  brightest  in  the  heavens. 
The  light  of  Sirius,  as  determined  by  Sir  John  Herschel, 
is  324  times  that  of  an  average  star  of  the  sixth  magni- 
tude. The  ratio  of  his  light  to  that  of  the  sun  has  been 
calculated  by  Dr.  Wollaston  to  be  as  1  to  20,000,000,000. 
To  diminish  the  light  afforded  to  us  by  the  sun  to  that  of 
Sirius,  the  sun  must  be  removed  to  141,400  times  his  pres- 
ent distance,  or  to  a  distance  of  13,433,000,000  miles.  But 
no  star  can  be  within  the  range  of  19  billions  of  miles. 
The  fact  therefore  of  Sirius  being  immensely  larger  than 
our  sun,  from  the  preceding  comparison,  is  at  least  certain, 
though  to  what  extent  we  know  not.  Dr.  Wollaston  as- 
sumes, upon  reasonable  grounds,  a  much  lower  limit  of  pos- 
sible parallax  than  that  which  would  give  Sirius  a  computed 
distance  of  19  billions  of  miles ;  and  hence  concludes,  that, 
occupying  the  sun's  place,  he  would  appear  3-7  times  larger, 
and  give  13*8  times  more  light,  or  be  equal  to  nearly  four- 
teen suns. 

Eudoxus  of  Cnidus,  a  contemporary  of  Plato,  about  370 
years  before  Christ,  sent  forth  a  description  of  the  face  of 
the  heavens,  containing  the  names  and  characters  of  all  the 
constellations  recognized  ^n  his  time.  Though  this  produc- 
tion has  perished,  yet  a  poetical  paraphrase  of  it,  written 
about  a  century  later,  is  still  extant,  the  work  of  Aratus,  a 
Cilician,  and  probably  a  native  of  Tarsus.  This  astronom- 
ical poem  opens  with  a  statement  of  the  dependence  of  all 
things  upon  Jupiter,  whose  children  all  men  are,  and  who 
has  given  the  stars  as  the  guides  of  agriculture. 


68  SCENERY    IN    A   PATCH 

"  With  Jove  we  must  begin ;  not  from  Him  rove ; 
Him  always  praise,  for  all  is  full  of  Jove ! 
He  fills  all  places  where  mankind  resort, 
The  wide-spread  sea,  with  ev'ry  shelt'ring  port. 
Jove's  presence  fills  all  space,  upholds  this  ball ; 
All  need  his  aid,  his  power  sustains  us  all. 
For  we  his  offspring  are ;  and  He  in  love 
Points  out  to  man  his  labor  from  above ; 
Where  signs  unerring  show  when  best  the  soil 
By  well-tim'd  culture  shall  repay  our  toil." 

NOTE. — The  superficial  extent  of  the  earth  includes  up- 
ward of  a  hundred  and  ninety-seven  millions  of  square  miles, 
and  its  solid  contents  amount  to  two  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  millions  of  cubical  miles.  Huge  as  this  ball  is,  it 
sinks  into  insignificance,  when  contrasted  with  Jupiter,  Sat- 
urn, or  Uranus.  The  areas,  and  solid  contents,  of  these 
planets,  are  about  as  follows  : 

Area.  Solid  contents. 

Jupiter  24,884,000,000  square  miles  368,283,200,000,000  cubic  miles 
Saturn*  19,600,000,000  261,326,800,000,000 

Uranus      3,848,460,000  22,437,804,000,000 

Including  the  other  planets  and  the  satellites,  their  com- 
bined surface  cannot  be  estimated  at  less  than  sixty  thousand 
millions  of  square  miles,  which  is  about  three  hundred  times 
the  surface  of  the  globe.  The  mind  can  only  imperfectly 
embrace  this  vastness  of  territory  ;  yet  it  is  but  as  a  prov- 
ince to  an  empire  when  compared  with  a  single  object  in  the 
system — the  Sun.  In  its  solid  bulk,  as  already  stated,  the 
solar  globe  is  equal  to  five  hundred  times  the  volumes  of 
the  planets,  and  to  nearly  one  and  a  quarter  millions  such 
worlds  as  ours. 


*  MARS,  the  nearest  to  us  of  the  exterior  planets,  was,  in  former  ages 
of  superstition,  the  dread  of  the  terrestrials  on  account  of  his  fiery  aspect, 
and  ministered  more  than  any  other  celestial  object  to  give  employment 
to  the  astrologers,  and  to  fill  their  coffers : 

"  But  most  is  Mars  amisse  of  all  the  rest; 
And  next  to  him  old  Saturne." 


OF  INFINITE   SPACE.  69 

BODIES,    AND     SUBSTANCES,    THAT    HAVE     FALLEN    FROM 

HEAVEN. — From  every  region  of  the  globe,  and  in  all  ages 
of  time  within  the  range  of  history,  exhibitions  of  apparent 
instability  in  the  heavens  have  been  observed,  when  the  cur- 
tains of  the  evening  have  been  drawn.  Suddenly,  a  line  of 
light  arrests  the  eye,  darting  like  an  arrow  through  a  va- 
rying extent  of  space,  and  in  a  moment  the  firmament  is  as 
sombre  as  before.  The  appearance  is  exactly  that  of  a  star 
falling  from  its  sphere,  and  hence  the  popular  title  of  shoot- 
ing star  applied  to  it.  The  apparent  magnitudes  of  these 
meteorites  are  widely  different,  and  also  their  brilliancy. 
Occasionally,  they  are  far  more  resplendent  than  the  bright- 
est of  the  planets,  and  throw  a  very  perceptible  illumination 
upon  the  path  of  the  observer.  A  second  or  two  commonly 
suffices  for  the  individual  display,  but  in  some  instances  it 
has  lasted  several  minutes.  In  every  climate  it  is  witnessed, 
and  at  all  times  of  the  year,  but  most  frequently  in  the 
autumnal  months.  As  far  back  as  records  go,  we  meet  with 
allusions  to  these  swift  and  evanescent  luminous  travelers. 
Minerva's  hasty  flight  from  the  peaks  of  Olympus  to  break 
the  truce  between  the  Greeks  and  Trojans,  is  compared  by 
Homer  to  the  emisssion  of  a  brilliant  star.  Virgil,  in  the 
first  book  of  the  Georgics,  mentions  the  shooting  stars  as 
prognosticating  weather  changes  : 

"  And  oft,  before  tempestuous  winds  arise, 
The  seeming  stars  fall  headlong  from  the  skies, 
And,  shooting  through  the  darkness,  gild  the  night 
With  sweeping  glories  and  long  trains  of  light." 

Antiquity  refers  us  to  several  objects  as  having  descended 
from  the  skies,  the  gifts  of  the  immortal  gods.  Such  was 
the  Palladium  of  Troy,  the  image  of  the  goddess  of  Ephesus, 
and  the  sacred  shield  of  Numa.  The  folly  of  the  ancients 
in  believing  such  narrations  has  often  been  the  subject  of 
remark ;  but,  however  fabulous  the  particular  cases  referred 


SCENERY    IN    A   PATCH 


to,  the  modern  have  been  compelled  to  renounce  their  scep- 
ticisms respecting  the  fact  itself,  of  the  actual  transition 
of  bodies  and  substances  from  celestial  space  to  terrestrial 
regions ;  and  no  doubt  the  ancient  faith  upon  this  subject 
was  founded  upon  observed  events.  The  following  table  ex- 
hibits a  collection  of  instances  of  the  fall  of  stones,  &c.2 


li 

Si     .-a      » 

•S°      2     3 

•§-^.,l 


fl 


*rt? 


.1 


u 


•A    & 
II 


\^' 


£ 
.fi 

H!S 

--C  °  a 
S»nl 


i  ; 

oT      bpw  e 
g      £^  § 

.2     ss"J 
S^S-gd 
£ ^2S= , 
£  fro  7.-1 


til 

2  s's 


I  sSi 

s  •  ss- 


«  PS 


S     c 


£  5-CV, 

-a  C       cs 


2  a®" 


fill 

I     -8  ^^    gl 

2:          o    oj      -     t  S 


jit 


II 


*    |1 

iJili 


««     ^-^H^S 
^^      «°g.5^g 


•Li's 

fiiti. 

i^lofl. 

5  a)  S  «  a  »  i 
*J.§J|1 

oa&aS&i 


ztt**&a»i&ttK&a&tt 


!§ 

^^ 


I! 


I 


. 


2  t, 
?  o 


2  » 
Jl 


» 


•S«^Is«g£-3     -5 
-««^g^^2S«c^      S 

S|.S^5«??«!i* 

u.'Js^SS 

:^llllf 


n 


D  o>  P  ca  « 
o  o^®  o 


Itj5    iisiiiirfrfi 

|illll||lll||ll|lil| 

^r-*4^J-J--4rT^4--rf-rf<-^'5r5t:^'h:-*^    ^fTl--4    ^ 


OF  INFINITE    SPACE.  71 

together  with  the  eras  of  their  descent,  and  the  persons  on 
whose  evidence  the  facts  rest ;  but  the  list  might  be  greatly 
extended. 

The  following  are  the  principal  facts  with  reference  to 
these  substances,  upon  which  general  dependence  may  be 
placed.  Immediately  after  the  descent  of  the  stones  or  other 
bodies,  they  are  intensely  hot.  They  are  covered  with  a 
fused  black  incrustation  consisting  chiefly  of  oxide  of  iron ; 
and  what  is  most  remarkable,  their  chemical  analysis  de- 
velops the  same  substances  in  nearly  the  same  proportions, 
though  one  may  have  reached  the  earth  in  India  and  an- 
other in  England.  Their  specific  gravities  are  about  the 
same;  considering  1000  as  the  proportionate  number  for 
the  specific  gravity  of  water,  that  of  some  of  the  stones  has 
been  found  to  be — 


Ennesheim  stone    -  3233 

Benares          -        -         -         3352 
Sienna   -  3418 


Yorkshire  -  -  3508 
Bachalay's  -  -  3535 
Bohemia  -  -  -  4281 


Gassendi's      -        -        -         345G 

The  greater  specific  gravity  of  the  Bohemian  stone  arose 
from  its  containing  a  larger  proportion  of  iron.  An  an- 
alysis of  one  of  the  stones  that  fell  at  L'Aigle  gives — 


Silica        -        -        46  per  cent 
Magnesia          -        10 
Iron  45 


Nickel  -  --  -  -  2 
Sulphur  ...  5 
Zinc  ....  1 


Iron  is  found  in  all  these  bodies,  and  in  a  considerable 
quantity,  with  the  rare  metal  nickel.  It  is  a  singular  fact, 
that  though  a  chemical  examination  of  their  composition 
has  not  discovered  any  substance  with  which  we  were  not 
previously  acquainted,  yet  no  other  bodies  have  yet  been 
found,  native  to  the  earth,  which  contain  the  same  ingre- 
dients combined.  Neither  products  of  the  volcanoes,  whether 
extinct  or  in  action,  nor  the  stratified  or  unstratified  rocks, 
have  exhibited  a  sample  of  that  combination  of  metallic 
and  earthy  substances  which  the  meteoric  stones  present 
During  the  era  that  science  has  admitted  their  path  to  the 


72  SCENERY  IN  A  PATCH 

earth  as  a  physical  truth,  scarcely  amounting  to  half  a  cen- 
tury, few  years  have  elapsed  without  a  known  instance  of 
descent  occurring  in  some  region  of  the  globe.  To  the  list, 
already  given,  upward  of  seventy  cases  might  be  added, 
which  have  transpired  during  the  last  forty  years.  A  report 
relating  to  one  of  the  most  recent,  which  fell  in  a  valley 
near  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  with  the  affidavits  of  the  wit- 
nesses, was  communicated  to  the  Royal  Society  by  Sir  John 
Herschel,  in  March  1840.  Previously  to  the  descent,  the 
usual  sound  of  explosion  was  heard,  and  some  of  the  frag- 
ments falling  upon  grass  caused  it  instantly  to  smoke,  and 
were  too  hot  to  admit  of  being  touched.  When,  however, 
we  consider  the  wide  range  of  the  ocean,  and  the  vast  unoc- 
cupied regions  of  the  globe,  its  mountains,  deserts,  and  for- 
ests, we  can  hardly  fail  to  admit  that  the  observed  cases  of 
descent  must  form  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  actual  num- 
ber ;  and  obviously  in  countries  upon  which  the  human  race 
are  thickly  planted,  many  may  escape  notice  through  de- 
scending in  the  night,  and  will  lie  imbedded  in  the  soil  till 
some  accidental  circumstance  exposes  their  existence.  Some 
too  are  no  doubt  completely  fused  and  dissipated  in  the  at- 
mosphere, while  others  move  by  us  horizontally  as  brilliant 
lights,  and  pass  into  the  depths  of  space.  The  volume  of 
some  of  these  passing  bodies  is  very  great.  One  which  trav- 
eled within  twenty-Jive  miles  of  the  surface,  and  cast  down 
a  fragment,  was  supposed  to  weigh  upward  of 'half a  mil- 
lion of  tons.  But  for  its  great  velocity  of  about  twenty 
miles  in  a  second,  the  whole  mass  would  have  been  precipi- 
ted  to  the  earth. 

A  multitude  of  theories  have  been  devised  to  account  for 
the  origin  of  these  remarkable  bodies,  but  hitherto  no  defi- 
nite conclusion  has  been  arrived  at  respecting  them.  Ad- 
mitting the  existence  of  such  bodies  to  be  placed  beyond  all 
doubt,  the  question  of  their  origin,  whether  original  accu- 
mulations of  matter,  old  as  the  planetary  orbs,  or  the  dis- 


OF  INFINITE  SPACE.  73 

- 

persed  trains  of  comets,  or  the  remains  of  a  ruined  world,  is 
a  point  beyond  the  power  of  the  human  understanding  to 
reach. 

COMETS. — Of  all  the  celestial  objects  which  have  arrested 
the  attention  of  mankind,  none  have  excited  such  general 
and  lively  apprehension  as  that  of  comets.  A  volume  of  no 
inconsiderable  dimensions  might  be  compiled,  and  not  with- 
out interest,  from  the  accounts  of  old  chronicles  respecting 
their  appearances,  registering  the  quaintly  expressed  opin- 
ions of  the  chroniclers  concerning  them,  the  terrestrial 
events  they  have  tacked  to  them  as  effects  to  a  cause,  and 
the  deportment  to  which  men  have  been  moved  by  the  ap- 
parition of 

"  the  blazing  star 

Tbreat'ning  the  world  with  famine,  plague,  and  war ; 
To  princes,  death ;  to  kingdoms,  many  crosses ; 
To  all  estates,  inevitable  losses ; 
To  herdsmen,  rot ;  to  ploughmen,  hapless  seasons ; 
To  sailors,  storms ;  to  cities,  civil  treasons." 

We  have  the  word  comet  from  the  Greek  xofiij,  or  hair, 
a  title  which  had  its  origin  in  the  hairy  appearance  often 
exhibited,  a  nebulosity,  haze,  or  kind  of  luminous  vapor, 
being  one  of  the  characteristics  of  these  bodies.  Their 
general  features  are  a  definite  point  or  nucleus,  a  nebulous 
light  surrounding  the  nucleus,  the  hair,  called  by  the  French 
chevelure,  and  a  luminous  train  preceding  or  following  the 
nucleus.  Milton  refers  to  one  of  these  attributes  in  a  pas- 
sage which  countenances  the  popular  superstition : 

"  Satan  stood 

Unterrified,  and  like  a  comet  burned, 
That  fires  the  length  of  Ophiucus  huge,  ' 
In  th'  arctic  sky,  and  from  its  horrid  hair, 
Shakes,  pestilence  and  war." 

Anciently,  when  the  train  preceded  the  nucleus,  as  is  the 
case  when  a  comet  has  passed  its  perihelion,  and  recedes 


T4  SCENERY    IN    A   PATCH 

• 

from  the  sun,  it  was  called  the  beard,  being  only  termed  the 
tail  when  seen  following  the  nucleus  as  the  sun  is  approach- 
ed. This  distinction  has  disappeared  from  all  modern 
astronomical  works,  and  the  latter  name  is  given  to  the  ap- 
pendage, whatever  its  apparent  position.  Neither  this 
luminous  attendant,  the  tail,  nor  the  nucleus,  are  now  con- 
sidered essential  cometary  elements,  but  all  bodies  are 
classed  as  comets  which  have  a  motion  of  their  own,  and 
describe  orbits  of  an  extremely  elongated  form.  There 
are  several  plain  points  of  difference  between  comets  and 
planets.  The  planets  move  in  the  same  direction  from 
west  to  east,  which  is  astronomically  called  direct  motion ; 
but  the  movements  of  comets  are  often  from  east  to  west,  or 
retrograde.  The  orbits  of  all  the  planets  are  confined  to  a 
zone  of  no  great  breadth  on  either  side  of  the  ecliptic ;  but 
the  paths  of  comets  cut  the  ecliptic  in  every  direction,  some 
being  even  perpendicular  to  it,  traversing  the  heavens  in  all 
parts.  The  contrast  is  striking  likewise  between  the  forms 
of  their  respective  orbits.  A  hoop  will  with  no  great  inac- 
curacy represent  the  courses  of  the  planets,  but  the  cometary 
paths  are  immensely  elongated  ellipses,  their  breadth  bear- 
ing no  proportion  to  their  length.  Only  one  end  of  the 
ellipse  lies  within  the  visible  limits  of  the  solar  system,  in 
the  case  of  the  great  majority  of  these  bodies.  They  only 
visit  our  gaze  therefore  during  one  part  of  their  course,  and 
that  a  very  small  part,  traveling  during  the  rest  of  their 
journey  far  beyond  the  range  of  the  most  distant  planet, 
into  spaces  inaccessible  to  our  sight.  The  circumstances  of 
their  motions  plainly  distinguish  them  from  the  planets, 
fixed  stars,  and  nebulae.  Planetary  configuration  is  also 
uniformly  globular,  but  the  external  appearances  of  comets 
exhibit  great  diversities  of  form,  from  that  of  an  irregular 
wisp  of  cloud  to  a  simple  spherical  luminosity,  or  a  strongly 
defined  scimitar-shaped  aspect. 


OF   INFINITE    SPACE.  76 

"  A  pathless  comet,  and  a  curse, 
The  menace  of  the  universe ; 
Still  rolling  on  with  innate  force, 
Without  a  sphere,  without  a  course." 

We  believe  it  is  generally  understood  that  Halley  was  the 
first  to  foretel  the  precise  periodical  return  of  one  of  these 
bodies.  This,  however,  has  been  disputed,  and  assigned  to 
Newton,  on  evidence  recently  detailed  in  one  of  the  leading 
journals,  but  which  certainly  cannot  be  admitted  to  invali- 
date his  pretensions.  It  is  affirmed  that  previously  to  the 
appearance  of  the  comet  of  1 736,  Colonel  Guise  told  Whis- 
ton  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  had  said  in  his  presence,  that 
"  though  he  would  not  say  he  was  sure  of  it,  nor  would 
publish  it,  he  had  some  reason  to  believe  that  a  comet  would 
return  about  the  latter  end  of  1736."  Another  witness 
also,  Mr.  Howard,  is  cited,  as  having  heard  him  make  a 
similar  remark ;  and  upon  being  questioned  concerning  it, 
it  is  stated  that  "  he  seemed  to  draw  back,  as  sorry  that  he 
had  said  so  much,  but  still  could  not  deny  that  he  had  such 
an  expectation."  Whiston  therefore  says  : — "  As  far  as  we 
yet  know,  Sir  Isaac  is  the  very  first  man,  and  this  the  very 
first  instance,  where  the  coming  of  a  comet  has  been  predict- 
ed beforehand,  and  has  actually  come  according  to  that  pre- 
diction, from  the  beginning  of  the  creation  to  this  day." 
Thompson  seems  to  fall  in  with  this  idea  in  panegyrising  the 
great  philosopher : — 

"  He,  first  of  men,  with  awful  wing  pursued 
The  comet  through  the  long  elliptic  curve, 
As  'long  innumerous  worlds  he  wound  his  way, 
Till  to  the  forehead  of  our  evening  sky 
Return'd,  the  blazing  wonder  glares  anew, 
And  o'er  the  trembling  nations  shakes  dismay." 

This  is  all  the  evidence  that  can  be  arrayed  in  favor  of 
Newton ;  and  obviously  its  hearsay  source,  with  the  dubidtis 
tone  of  the  testimony  reported,  cannot  weigh  a  feather  in 


SCENERY   IN   A  PATCH 


the  scale  against  the  claims  of  Halley,  whose  prediction  was 
the  result  of  careful  comparison,  and  as  such  boldly  pub- 
lished  to  the  world. 

In  the  autumn  of  1811,  within  the  memory  of  many  of  the 
present  generation,  by  far  the  finest  comet  suddenly  appeared 
to  adorn  our  heavens,  that  has  been  seen  since  the  age  of  New- 
ton. It  was  first  beheld  in  Great  Britain  in  the  beginning 
of  September,  and  was  visible  for  more  than  three  months 
in  succession  to  the  naked  eye,  shining  with  great  splendor, 
the  observed  of  all  observers.  This  was  a  comet  of  the  first 
class  in  point  of  magnitude  and  luminosity.  Its  brilliant 
tail,  at  its  greatest  elongation,  had  an  extent  of  123  mil- 
lions of  miles,  by  a  breadth  of  15  millions ;  and  thus 
supposing  the  nucleus  of  the  comet  to  have  been  placed  on 
the  sun,  and  the  tail  in  the  plane  of  the  orbits  of  the  planet 
it  would  have  reached  over  those  of  Mercury,  Yenus,  the 
Earth,  and  have  bordered  on  that  of  Mars.  At  its  nearest 
approach  to  us,  the  comet  was  yet  distant  141  millions  of 
miles,  so  that  even  had  the  tail  pointed  to  the  earth,  its  ex- 
tremity would  have  been  18  millions  of  miles  away  from  its 
surface.  The  following  are  the  calculations  respecting  its 
period  of  revolution : 


Years. 
3056 
3383 


Authority. 
Callendrelli 
-     Bessel 


Years. 
3757 
4237 


Authority. 

Ferrer 

Lemaur. 


The  mind  is  astounded  at  a  journey  requiring  the  least  of 
these  cycles  for  its  accomplishment  —  a  period  equal  to  that 
extending  from  the  fabulous  age  of  Grecian  story  to  the  pres- 
ent ;  nor  is  the  thought  less  wonderful,  of  the  chain  of  solar 
influence  following  the  traveler  through  the  whole  of  its 
course,  and  preventing  its  elopement  into  the  regions  of 
immensity.  The  laws  of  the  system,  indeed,  impose  upon 
the  long-period  comets  vast  differences  of  velocity.  The 
same  body  that  rushes  round  the  sun  at  the  nearest  point  of 
contact  with  prodigious  speed,  will  move  but  sluggishly 


OF    INFINITE   SPACE.  77 

through  the  remoter  parts  of  its  orbit.  In  computing  the 
periodic  time  of  the  comet  of  1811,  Lemaur  assigned  775 
years  to  the  half  of  the  ellipse  nearest  the  sun,  and  3462  to 
the  more  distant  half.  The  appearance  of  this  comet  was 
strikingly  ornamental  to  the  evening  sky.  Many  a  reaper 
late  in  the  harvest  field  stayed  his  hand,  and  many  a  peas- 
ant homeward-bound  stopped  in  the  way,  to  gaze  upon  the 
celestial  novelty  as  it  grew  into  distinctness  with  the  de- 
clining day.  The  Ettrick  shepherd  has  left  a  memorial  of 
his  impressions  in  the  well-known  lines : 

44  Stranger  of  heaven,  I  bid  thee  hail ! 

Shred  from  the  pall  of  glory  riven, 
That  flashest  iu  celestial  gale  — 
Broad  pennon  of  the  King  of  Heaven 

44  Whate'er  portends  thy  front  of  fire, 

And  streaming  locks  so  lovely  pale ; 
Or  peace  to  man,  or  judgments  dire, 
Stranger  of  heaven,  I  bid  thee  hail !" 

NEBULJE. — Far  more  astonishing  than  any  of  the  details 
upon  which  we  have  hitherto  dwelt,  are  those  relating  to 
the  class  of  celestial  objects  we  have  now  to  consider,  the  in- 
vestigation of  which  is  at  present  the  ^ghest  branch  of 
practical  astronomy.  In  directing  our  attention  to  Nebulae, 
we  leave  what  may  comparatively  be  called  home  regions, 
strange  as  the  phrase  appears,  when  we  recollect  the  distance 
intervening  between  us  and  the  nearest  of  the  stars.  But 
such  language  is  strictly  appropriate  with  reference  to  the 
stars  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  and  reached  by  ordinary  tel- 
escopic aid.  They  form  our  firmament  or  cluster,  near  the 
centre  of  which  the  solar  system  is  supposed  to  be  situate, 
the  Milky  Way  being  apparently  its  outward  boundary.  Yet 
besides  this  province  with  which  we  are  connected,  incalcu- 
lably vast  as  it  is,  perfectly  inestimable  both  in  length, 
breadth,  depth,  and  height,  there  are  other  provinces  within 
view,  equally  as  capacious,  distinct  firmaments  of  clusters, 


78  SCENERY  IN  A  PATCH 

scattered  through  those  territories  of  the  universe  that  are 
accessible  to  our  gaze  ;  and  could  we  be  removed  to  any 
of  them,  the  whole  of  that  great  scheme  of  existence  cir- 
cumscribed by  the  Milky  Way,  might  seem  compressed 
into  a  small  globular  patch  in  space,  the  aspect  presented 
by  the  nebulce  to  ourselves.  The  term  nebula,  signifying  a 
cloud  or  mist,  is  a  denomination  given  to  spots  of  pale  light, 
which  are  sprinkled  in  the  heavens,  a  few  of  which  may  be 
detected  by  the  unaided  eye.  They  vary  considerably  in 
shape,  size,  and  luminosity ;  and  occur  in  numbers,  which 
every  improvement  of  the  telescope  increases. 

It  was  one  of  the  great  tasks  of  Sir  William  Herschel  to 
gauge  the  heavens,  and  to  ascertain  the  relative  distances  of 
the  resolved  and  resolvable  clusters ;  and,  as  many  of  those 
views  which  were  deemed  wild  and  visionary  by  his  com- 
peers, have,  since  his  day,  been  triumphantly  established,  his 
inquiries  and  conclusions  in  general  are  entitled  to  attention 
and  confidence.  To  the  centres  of  the  easily  resolved  sphe- 
rical nebulae  of  the  largest  diameter,  he  assigned  a  remote- 
ness 400  times  that  of  Sirius.  Those  of  half  their  diam- 
eter, whose  stars  appear  to  be  more  closely  wedged,  he 
supposed  to  be  double  the  distance  of  the  former ;  and  at 
four  times  their  distance,  or  2400  times  more  remote  than 
Sirius,  he  placed  those  clusters  which  plainly  indicate  resolva- 
bility,  but  whose  components  are  not  with  our  present  means 
apprehensible.  In  the  last  case  we  have  an  extent  of  space 
equal  to  at  least  45,000,000,000,000,000,  or  forty-five  thou- 
sand billions  of  miles.  The  dumb-bell  nebula  is  certainly 
not  within  that  range,  and  probably  much  farther  off.  Light, 
which  comes  to  us  from  the  sun  in  eight  minutes — flashing 
along  at  the  immense  rate  of  190,000  miles  in  a  second  of 
time,  or  nearly  twelve  millions  of  miles  in  a  minute,  would 
require  upwards  of  seven  thousand  years  to  perform  its 
passage  across  the  gulf!  But  Herschel  went  to  a  still 
more  tremendous  depth  in  space — that  of  35,175  times  the 


OP   INFINITE    SPACE.  79 

distance  of  Sirius — as  the  site  of  some  clusters; — a  com- 
parison with  which  the  distance  of  the  stars  themselves 
from  us,  mighty  as  it  appears,  shrinks  into  insignificance. 
Such  is  Creation  !  or  at  least  that  part  of  it  with  which  we 
have  some  acquaintance.  These  are  views  which  render  the 
language  of  Coleridge  not  chargeable  with  extravagance: 
"It  is  surely  not  impossible,"  said  that  highly  gifted  man, 
"  that  to  some  infinitely  superior  Being  the  whole  universe 
may  be  as  one  plain — the  distance  between  planet  and 
planet  being  only  as  the  pores  in  a  grain  of  sand,  and  the 
spaces  between  system  and  system  no  greater  than  the  in- 
tervals  between  one  grain  and  a,  grain  adjacent  /" 

The  dimensions  of  one  of  these  nebula  alone  is  so  enor- 
mous, that  it  subtends  an  angle  of  nearly  10 ',  and  suppos- 
ing it  at  the  distance  of  a  star  of  the  eighth  magnitude,  its 
size  must  be  at  least  3,208,600,000,000,000,000,  or  more 
than  three  trillions  of  times  that  of  our  sun.  Upon  com- 
paring the  present  appearance  of  this  great  nebula  with  for- 
mer drawings  of  it,  it  appears  to  have  undergone  some 
marked  changes,  at  least  if  the  older  representations  are  to 
be  depended  upon.  The  following  memorandum  was  made 
by  Herschel  when  he  viewed  it  in  1774 :  "  Its  shape  is  not 
like  that  which  Dr.  Smith  has  delineated  in  his  '  Optics/ 
though  somewhat  resembling  it ;  from  this  we  may  infer 
that  there  are  undoubtedly  changes  among  the  regions  of 
the  fixed  stars ;  and  perhaps,  from  a  careful  observation  of 
this  lucid  spot,  something  may  be  concluded  concerning  the 
nature  of  it."  What  this  immense  looming  mass  portends, 
we  know  not,  but  the  surmise  is  not  improbable,  that  here 
we  have  the  germ  of  systems  of  worlds  to  be  evolved  in 
future  ages,  where  Life,  Beauty,  and  Intelligence  are 
destined  to  play  their  various  phases. 

An  object  of  the  same  class  appears  in  the  girdle  of  An- 
dromeda, called  the  "  transcendently  beautiful  Queen  of  the 
nebulse,"  the  oldest  known  nebula,  supposed  also  to  be  one  of 


80  SCENERY   IN    A   PATCH 

the  nearest.  It  is  visible  to  the  naked  eye  in  the  absence  of 
the  moon,  and  has  often  been  mistaken  for  a  comet.  A  no- 
tice of  it  occurs  as  early  as  the  commencement  of  the  tenth 
century.  The  first  telescopic  view  was  obtained  by  Simon 
Marius,  December  15,  1612,  who  compared  it  to  a  candle 
shining  through  a  horn,  that  is,  a  diluted  light  increasing 
in  density  towards  a  centre.  This  nebula  is  of  an  oval  or 
lenticular  shape,  and  forms  nearly  a  right-angled  triangle 
with  Alrnaach  Mirach,  the  two  chief  stars  of  Andromeda. 
A  good  eye  may  pick  it  up  on  a  favorable  night,  by  project- 
ing a  line  from  Sheratan,  the  second  star  in  Aries,  through 
Mirach  to  about  4d°  beyond.  It  is  about  half  a  degree  long, 
and  from  15'  to  20'  broad.  Herschel,  who  deemed  this 
one  of  the  nearest  nebulas  in  the  heavens,  remarks :  "  The 
brightest  part  of  it  approaches  to  the  resolvable  nebulosity, 
and  begins  to  show  a  faint  red  color ;  which  from  many  ob- 
servations on  the  magnitude  and  color  of  nebulae,  I  believe 
to  be  an  indication  that  its  distance  in  the  colored  part  does 
not  exceed  2000  times  the  distance  of  Sirius."  This  is  the 
rather  extensive  interval  of  38,000,000,000,000,000,  of 
miles,  a  space  which  light  will  reytiire  more  than  6000 
years  to  traverse,  so  that  a  ray  that  now  meets  the  eye 
must  have  started  from  its  source  before  the  creation  of 
man,  and  a  ray  that  is  now  leaving  it  will  not  accomplish 
the  distance  till  the  world  is  six  thousand  years  older. 

Those  who  have  treated  the  nebulae  hypothesis  with  ridi- 
cule have  strangely  forgotten  what  is  daily  passing  before 
their  eyes — forgotten  the  uniform  plan  of  Providence  with 
reference  to  the  world  in  which  we  live.  What  is  man — 
full-grown,  active,  intellectual  man — as  he  appears  in  the 
maturity  of  his  powers,  the  noontide  of  his  day,  but  an 
example  of  ascension  from  a  crude  to  a  higher  condition  ? 
By  gradual  and  slow  degrees,  he  acquires  his  vigor  of  frame, 
fluency  of  speech,  agility  of  movement,  and  furniture  of  mind. 

We  have  no  more  occasion  to  stumble  at  the  idea  that 


OF   INFINITE    SPACE.  81 

our  world  dates  its  origin  from  a  few  primordial  elements, 
endowed  with  properties  to  complete  the  structure,  than  a 
colony  of  ants,  at  a  tree  root,  would  have  cause  to  start  at 
the  fact,  could  they  be  made  cognizant  of  it,  that  leaves, 
branches,  and  trunk  proceeded  from  a  single  seed.  The  law 
that  unites  the  atoms  that  compose  the  earth,  forms  every 
rain-drop,  and  moulds  the  tear  that  trickles  down  the  cheek 
of  sorrow— -in  prevailing  operation  millions  of  leagues  away 
from  our  terrestrial  residence,  binding  together  in  spherical 
masses  whole  sidereal  systems.  Such  a  fact,  however,  com- 
monly suggests  no  farther  remarks  than  that  the  laws  of 
nature  every  where  prevail,  and  with  this,  thought  in  general 
ends.  But  "  what"  says  Paley,  " do  we  mean  by  the  laics 
of  nature,  or  by  any  law  ?  Effects  are  produced  by 
power,  and  not  by  laws.  A  law  cannot  execute  itself.  A 
law  refers  us  to  an  agent"  An  irresistible  conviction  is 
forced  upon  us,  of  the  universal  agency,  and,  consequently, 
the  omnipresence  of  one  Lawgiver,  by  the  universal  pres- 
ence and  execution  of  kindred  laws ;  and  confessedly  incom- 
prehensible as  is  the  modus  of  His  operation,  it  would  bo 
not  more  irreligious  to  stumble  at  this  than  unphilosophical, 
considering  the  immense  amount  of  things  of  which  we 
have  certain  evidence  that  they  are,  without  having  any 
glimpse  as  to  how  they  are.  We  cannot  at  all  understand  the 
physical  agency  of  the  Deity ;  but  paying  deference  to  the 
strong  facts  of  nature,  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  He 

"  Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent 
Spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent," 

However  it  may  savor  of  the  gigantesque,  it  is  suffi- 
ciently evidenced  that  an  area  of  the  heavens  not  exceeding 
TL  of  the  lunar  diameter,  contains  a  system  of  stars  ri- 
valling' in  number  those  which  constitute  our  firmament, 
and  appearing  only  as  a  single  faint  luminosity  to  its. 
Yet  there  are  thousands  of  areas  so  occupied.  It  follows. 

6 


82  SCENERY    IN   A   PATCH 

therefore,  that  our  firmament  is  but  one  of  a  series :  one  of 
the  smaller  chambers  in  the  great  mansion  of  the  universe. 
All  the  stars  and  constellations  that  shine  in  the  midnight 
sky,  constitute  a  stellar  scheme  which  is  but  a  unit  of  a 
countless  number.  As  seen  from  the  faint  objects  we  dis- 
cern in  the  side  of  Hercules  and  the  sword-handle  of  Per- 
seus, our  whole  sphere  would  be  compressed  into  a  small 
streak  of  light,  and  appear  in  space  like  a  snow  flake  in  our 
atmosphere  ! 

"  Distrusting  the  power  of  the  Refracting  Telescope," 
says  Professor  Mitchell,  "  Lord  Rosse  determined  to  give 
his  energies  to  the  construction  of  a  Reflecting  Telescope, 
that  would  enable  him  to  make  grander  discoveries  than  had 
hitherto  been  made.  He  wanted  an  instrument  that  would 
burst  through  the  barriers  that  had  hitherto  bounded  human 
vision ;  that  would  show  him  what  lay  in  the  vast  deep 
beyond.  I  need  not  detail  to  you  the  construction  of  this 
mighty  instrument.  Instead  of  limiting  it  to  four  feet 
in  diameter,  as  Herschel  did,  he  has  given  his  speculum  six 
feet,  with  a  focal  distance  of  sixty  feet.  The  power  of  this 
instrument  is  almost  incredible.  Such  is  its  capacity  that 
if  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  were  removed  to  such  a 
distance  that  its  light  would  be  sixty  thousand  years  in 
traveling  to  the  earth}  this  telescope  would  reveal  it ;  were 
it  removed  so  far  that  its  light  would  be  three  millions  of 
years  in  reaching  us,  this  telescope  would  show  it  to  the 
human  eye.  With  such  an  instrument,  then  it  is  not  won- 
derful that  great  discoveries  should  be  made.  It  has  but 
been  pointed  to  the  heavens ;  we  have  only  entered  upon  the 
beginning  of  its  career,  but  it  has  already  accomplished 
mighty  things.  There  are  scattered  throughout  the  heav- 
ens objects  nebulous  in  their  appearance  which  would  not 
yield  up  their  character  to  the  instruments  heretofore  em- 
ployed; but  this  instrument  resolves  them  completely. 
Among  the  different  objects  that  have  been  subjected  to  its 


OP   INFINITE  SPACE.  83 

scrutiny,  is  the  wonderful  nebula  in  the  constellation  Orion. 
I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  it.  It  is  one  of  the 
most  curious  objects  in  the  whole  heavens.  It  is  not  round, 
and  it  throws  off  furious  lights.  This  object  has  been  sub- 
jected to  the  examination  of  every  instrument  from  the  time 
of  Herschel,  but  it  grew  more  and  more  mysterious,  more 
difficult  to  understand,  more  strange  and  diverse  in  its  char- 
acter. When  Lord  Ross's  great  telescope  was  directed  to 
its  examination,  it  for  a  long  time  resisted  its  power.  He 
found  it  necessary  to  wait  night  after  night  and  month 
after  month,  until  finally  a  favoring  combination  of  circum- 
stances gave  to  'him  a  pure  atmosphere.  He  directed  his 
telescope  to  the  object,  and  lo !  its  station  revealed  itself,  the 
stars  of  which  it  is  composed,  burst  upon  the  sight  for  the 
first  time,  and  the  problem  was  solved  forever.  Here  is  one 
of  the  mightiest  triumphs  of  this  instrument,  but  it  has 
gone  on  from  point  to  npint  revealing  combinations  of  stars 
wonderful  beyond  what  the  imagination  could  conceive. " — 
New  York  Tribune. 


MEMOIE  OE  GALILEO. 


"  When  in  dungeon  damply  lying, 
Faint  and  tortured,  hardly  dying, 
Yet  for  truth,  with  honest  pride, 
Yet,  'It  moves!  it  moves1'  he  cried.' 


GALILEO  GALILEI,  the  eldest  son  of  Vincentio  Galilei, 
was  born  at  Pisa  in  Italy,  on  the  15th  of  February,  1564. 
Like  most  experimental  philosopher^  Galileo,  in  his  earliest 
years,  gave  indications  of  that  bent  of  mind,  and  intellec- 
tual superiority,  which  has  made  him  rank  so  high  among 
the  philosophers  of  antiquity.  Although  his  father  was  by 
no  means  wealthy,  Galileo  received  a  tolerable  education. 
He  was  desirous  of  following  the  profession  of  a  painter ; 
but  in  obedience  to  his  father's  desire,  he  entered  as  a  scholar 
of  arts  at  the  university  of  Pisa,  on  the  5th  of  November, 
1581,  and  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  medicine.  Music 
was  a  favorite  study  of  Galileo's.  In  studying  the  princi- 
ples of  this  science,  he  found  it  necessary  to  learn  something 
of  geometry,  and  commenced  with  Euclid's  Elements.  The 
demonstrations  of  the  mathematician,  and  the  new  and  won- 
drous truths  which  this  science  unfolds,  took  such  hold  of 
the  ardent  mind  of  Galileo,  that  after  many  fruitless  at- 
tempts to  confine  him  to  the  study  of  medicine,  his  father 
gave  up  the  attempt,  and  allowed  him  to  follow  his  own 
inclinations.  From  Euclid  he  ascended  to  the  higher  mathe- 
maticians ;  and,  while  studying  Archimedes'  treatise  on  hy- 


MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO.  85 

drostatics,  he  wrote  an  essay  on  the  hydrostatical  balance, 
explaining  its  construction,  and  the  mode  by  which  the  phi- 
losopher of  Syracuse  detected  the  fraud  committed  by  the 
jewellers  making  Hiero's  crown.  This  work  introduced 
Galileo  to  Guido  Ubaldi,  an  eminent  mathematician,  who 
engaged  him  to  investigate  the  subject  of  the  centre  of 
gravity  in  solid  bodies ;  and  the  treatise  which  he  produced 
upon  this  subject  was  the  foundation  of  his  future  celebrity 
Through  his  connexion  with  Ubaldi,  Galileo  was  appoin- 
ted lecturer  on  mathematics  at  Pisa  in  1589,  with  a  yearly 
salary  of  sixty  crowns,  which  he  increased  by  devoting  some 
time  to  private  teaching.  At  the  early  age  of  eighteen, 
Galileo  doubted  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle;  and  on  his 
establishment  at  Pisa,  commenced  to  overthrow  the  doc- 
trines of  this  philosopher.  His  first  inquiries  were  into 
the  mechanical  doctrines  of  Aristotle,  which  he  soon  dis- 
covered to  be  untenable.  The  errors  which  he  found  exist- 
ing, he  exposed  to  his  pupils,  and  a  rancorous  controversy 
commenced  between  the  followers  of  Aristotle  on  the  one 
side,  and  Galileo  and  his  pupils  on  the  other.  Argument, 
and  even  experiment,  failed  in  convincing  Galileo's  oppo- 
nents. The  doctrine  of  Aristotle,  that  the  heavier  of  two 
falling  bodies  would  fall  quicker,  was  proved  by  the  experi- 
ment of  dropping  bodies  of  different  weights  from  the  lean- 
ing tower  at  Pisa;  but  although  these  bodies  struck  the 
ground  nearly  at  the  same  instant,  the  followers  of  Aristo- 
tle remained  unconvinced,  or  at  least  unconverted.  Con- 
scious of  his  superiority,  and  the  truth  of  his  doctrines, 
Galileo  turned  not  only  the  powers  of  argument,  but  the 
shafts  of  ridicule  and  sarcasm  against  his  opponents ;  thus 
raising  up  a  personal  enmity,  which  afterwards  developed 
itself  in  bitter  persecution.  Other  circumstances  increased 
the  rancor  of  his  enemies,  and  at  last  made  his  position  so 
uncomfortable,  that  he  gave  up  his  situation  at  Pisa,  and 
accepted  the  professorship  of  mathematics  at  the  university 


SO  MEMOIR   OF   GALILEO. 

of  Padua;  with  an  income  of  180  florins.  The  death  of 
his  father  having  burdened  Galileo  with  the  family,  he  had 
to  apply  himself  here  as  at  Pisa,  to  private  teaching.  Not- 
withstanding his  public  and  private  duties,  however,  he  still 
found  leisure  to  make  several  discoveries  and  inventions, 
which  were  circulated  in  manuscript  amongst  his  friends. 
Some  of  these  abused  the  confidence  reposed  in  them,  and 
published  several  of  Galileo's  inventions  as  their  own. 

The  doctrines  of  Copernicus,  regarding  the  stability  of  the 
sun  and  the  revolution  of  the  planets,  were  the  subject  of 
disputation  among  the  learned  in  the  time  of  Galileo.  He 
early  became  a  convert  to  the  new  doctrines,  and  believed 
in  them  even  at  the  time  he  was  teaching  the  opposite  or 
Ptolemaic  system,  which  regarded  the  earth  as  stationary, 
and  the  sun  a  revolving  body.  Shortly  after  he  went  to 
Padua,  he  published  a  treatise  on  the  sphere,  in  which  the 
system  of  Ptolemy  was  supported  by  the  very  arguments 
which  he  afterward  ridiculed.  It  is  rather  considered,  how- 
ever, that  it  was  some  time  after  the  publication  of  this 
treatise  that  Galileo  changed  his  opinions.  About  this  time 
he  commenced  a  correspondence  with  Kepler,  the  German 
astronomer,  which  continued  till  his  death. 

In  1593,  he  contracted  a  chronic  disorder,  from  inadvert- 
ently sleeping  at  an  open  window,  which  afflicted  him  at  in- 
tervals during  the  rest  of  his  life.  At  this  time,  Galileo's 
reputation  as  a  philosopher  was  widely  extended  all  over 
Europe,  and  many  of  the  nobility  became  his  pupils.  His 
first  engagement  as  professor  at  Padua  was  for  six  years. 
On  the  expiry  of  this  term,  he  was  re-engaged  for  other  six 
years,  at  an  advanced  salary  of  320  florins.  The  first  im- 
portant discovery  of  Galileo  was,  that  the  vibrations  of  a 
pendulum  are  performed  in  equal  times,  whatever  be  the  size 
of  the  arc  described,  within  certain  limits.  In  1604,  a  new 
star  was  discovered  by  astronomers  in  the  constellation  of 
Ophiucus,  and  formed  the  subject  of  much  speculation  By 


MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO.  87 

some  it  was  set  down  as  a  meteor ;  but  from  the  absence  of 
parallax,  Galileo  proved  it  to  be  one  of  the  fixed  stars,  sit- 
uated far  beyond  the  bounds  of  our  own  system. 

Galileo  was  again  appointed  professor  at  Padua,  in  1606, 
and  his  salary  increased  to  520  florins.  So  great  had  his 
fame  as  a  philosopher  arisen,  that  the  lecture-room  could  not 
contain  his  hearers,  which  obliged  him  often  to  lecture  in  the 
open  air.  Among  other  pursuits,  he  investigated  the  prop- 
erties of  the  loadstone,  and  discovered  a  method  of  arming 
them,  so  as  to  double  their  magnetic  power.  Galileo  still 
kept  up  communication  with  the  family  of  the  Duke  of 
Tuscany,  who  had  been  his  early  patron.  Cosmo,  who  had 
succeeded  his  father  Ferdinand,  had  been  one  of  Galileo's 
pupils,  and  being  imbued  with  an  ardent  wish  to  promote 
science,  formed  the  desire  of  attaching  his  former  master  to 
his  household.  Negotiations  were  accordingly  commenced. 
His  salary,  as  professor  at  Padua,  was  to  be  greatly  in- 
creased on  the  expiry  of  his  engagement.  The  seclusion  of 
private  life,  however,  offered  far  greater  charms  to  the  studi- 
ous philosopher.  He  was  anxious  to  escape  the  performance 
of  public  and  private  duties,  which  continually  interrupted 
his  own  studies.  He  accordingly  accepted  the  situation  of 
philosopher  and  principal  mathematician  to  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  with  a  salary  of  1000  florins,  and  took  uf) 
his  residence  at  Florence.  The  only  duties  attached  to  this 
situation,  were,  to  lecture  occasionally  to  sovereign  princes. 
It  was  expressly  stipulated  that  he  should  have  the  most 
perfect  command  of  his  own  time,  to  devote  to  study  and 
the  completion  of  some  projected  works. 

During  the  progress  of  the  arrangements  for  leaving  Padua, 
Galileo  paid  a  visit  to  Venice.  Here  he  became  informed  of 
an  optical  instrument,  presented  by  a  Dutchman  to  Prince 
Maurice  of  Nassau,  which  possessed  the  property  of  enlarging 
objects,  and  bringing  them  nearer  the  observer.  This  was 
confirmed  by  a  letter  which  Galileo  received  a  few  days  af- 


88  MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO. 

terward  from  Paris.  To  the  consideration  of  this  subject  Le 
immediately  applied  himself,  and  the  first  night  after  his  re- 
turn to  Padua,  he  discovered  what  he  sought  in  the  doctrine 
of  refracting  light.  He  fitted  a  spectacle-glass  to  each  end  of 
a  leaden  tube,  one  of  which  was  plano-convex,  and  the  other 
plano-concave,  and  on  applying  his  eye  to  the  concave  glass, 
he  found  that  it  magnified.  Delighted  with  his  discovery, 
he  carried  his  little  instrument  in  triumph  to  Yenice,  where 
it  created  a  most  intense  excitement,  and  for  a  month  thou- 
sands flocked  to  see  it.  He  made  a  present  of  it  to  the  Ve- 
netian Senate,  and  received  in  return  a  perpetual  grant  of 
the  professorship  at  Padua,  and  an  increase  of  salary  from 
520  to  1000  florins.  It  was  shortly  after  this  that  he  entered 
the  household  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany. 

After  disposing  of  his  first  instrument,  which  magnified 
only  three  times,  Galileo  applied  himself  to  the  making  of 
another,  which  magnified  eight  times,  and  "at  length,"  as  he 
says  himself,  "  sparing  neither  labor  nor  expense,"  he  con- 
structed an  instrument  which  magnified  thirty  times.  With 
this  instrument  he  discovered  the  inequalities  in  the  moon's 
surface.  "  The  dark  and  luminous  spaces  he  regarded  as  in- 
dicating seas  and  continents,  which  reflected  in  different  de- 
grees the  incidental  light  of  the  sun ;  and  he  ascribed  the 
phosphorescence,  as  it  has  been  improperly  called,  or  the  sec- 
ondary light  which  is  seen  on  the  dark  limb  of  the  moon  in 
her  first  and  last  quarters,  to  the  reflection  of  the  sun's  light 
from  the  earth."  With  the  telescope  he  discovered  a  strik- 
ing difference  between  the  appearance  of  the  fixed  stars  and 
the  planets.  The  latter  exhibited  round  and  well-defined 
discs  like  the  moon,  while  the  former,  even  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude, appeared  but  as  lucid  points.  He  was  likewise  ena- 
bled to  resolve  portions  of  nebulae  and  clusters,  which  appear- 
ed to  be  hazy  spots  in  the  heavens,  into  distinct  and  numer- 
ous stars. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1610,  he  discovered  three  of 


MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO.  89 

Jupiter's  satellites.  When  he  first  observed  them;  two  were 
on  the  east  side,  and  one  on  the  west  side  of  the  planet,  all 
in  a  straight  line,  parallel  to  the  ecliptic,  and  much  brighter 
than  fixed  stars  of  their  magnitude.  He  regarded  them  at 
first  as  fixed  stars ;  but,  on  chancing  to  direct  his  attention 
to  them  again  on  the  8th  of  January,  he  found  all  the  three 
to  be  on  the  west  side  of  Jupiter,  and  nearer  each  other. 
Disregarding  the  circumstance  of  these  stars  having  ap- 
proached each  other,  he  considered  how  Jupiter  could  be  to 
the  east  of  them,  when  the  day  before  he  had  been  to  the 
west  of  two  of  them ;  and  the  conclusion  he  came  to  was, 
"  that  the  motion  of  Jupiter  was  direct  contrary  to  the  as- 
tronomical calculations,  and  that  he  had  got  before  these 
two  stars  by  his  own  motion."  On  the  10th,  however,  an- 
other observation  showed  him  only  two  stars,  and  both  on 
the  east  side  of  Jupiter.  It  was  evident  that  the  planet 
could  not  have  moved  from  west  to  east  on  the  8th  of  Jan- 
uary, and  two  days  after  have  moved  from  east  to  west. 
Under  these  circumstances  he  came  to  the  conclusion,  that 
the  different  appearances  arose  from  the  motion  of  the  stars 
themselves.  On  the  llth,  there  were  two  stars  on  the  east 
side  of  Jupiter,  but  the  one  was  twice  the  size  of  the  other. 
"  This  fact  threw  a  new  light  upon  Galileo's  difficulties,  and 
he  immediately  drew  the  conclusion  which  he  considered  to 
be  indubitable,  'that  there  were  in  the  heavens  three  stars, 
which  revolved  round  Jupiter  in  the  same  manner  as  Venus 
and  Mercury  revolve  round  the  sun.'  "*  On  the  13th,  Ga- 
lileo discovered  the  fourth  satellite  of  Jupiter.  Having 
made  these  discoveries,  he  named  them  the  Medician  stars, 
in  honor  of  his  patron,  Cosmo  de  Medici,  grand-duke  of 
Tuscany,  and  published  an  account  of  them  in  a  work  en- 
titled the  "Sidereal  Messenger." 

These  discoveries,  the  fruits  of  the  newly  discovered  tel- 

*  "  Martyrs  of  Science/'  by  Sir  D.  Brewster. 


90  MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO. 

escope,  astonished  the  whole  scientific  world.  The  ideas, 
however,  which  Galileo  enunciated  in  his  "  Sidereal  Mes- 
senger/' were  attacked  on  all  hands  by  the  Aristotelians. 
They  even  denied  the  existence  of  the  four  satellites  which 
Galileo  had  discovered  :  some  affirming  he  was  deceived  by 
reflected  rays ;  and  others,  that  it  was  a  ruse  to  afford  him- 
self a  subject  for  discussion.  Their  existence  having  been 
at  last  indisputably  established,  others  began  to  claim  the 
priority  of  discovery,  and  to  pretend  that  they  had  dis- 
covered additional  satellites  of  Jupiter.  Some  gave  this 
planet  as  many  as  twelve  moons ;  but  they  were  gradually 
found  out  to  be  fixed  stars,  and  Galileo  remained  the  ori- 
ginal discoverer  of  the  four  secondary  planets. 

Before  the  close  of  1610,  Galileo  discovered  Saturn's  ring, 
although  not  conscious  of  its  true  nature,  or  the  appear- 
ance which  it  presents  when  highly  magnified.  He  de- 
scribed Saturn  as  a  triple  star,  each  retaining  its  relative 
position.  Shortly  after,  he  discovered  that  Yenus  presented 
phases  like  the  moon,  when  at  different  parts  of  her  orbit. 
He  likewise  discovered  spots  on  the  sun's  surface,  from  which 
he  calculated  that  that  luminary  had  a  motion  on  its  axis, 
completed  in  about  twenty-eight  days.  In  1612,  he  pub- 
lished a  treatise  on  floating  bodies,  displaying  a  knowledge 
of  many  true  principles  in  hydrostatics.  It  was  violently 
attacked  j  but  the  master  mind  of  Galileo  refuted  his  oppo- 
nents as  soon  almost  as  they  appeared. 

The  great  objection  raised  by  the  priesthood  and  follow- 
ers of  Aristotle,  against  the  doctrines  advanced  by  Galileo, 
was,  that  they  were  contrary  to  Scripture,  and  ran  coun- 
ter to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  In  refuting  these  and 
other  objections,  Galileo  added  to  the  calm  arguments  of 
reason  the  bitterness  of  sarcasm.  In  1613  he  published  a 
letter  to  prove  that  the  Scriptures  were  not  to  be  taken  as 
guides  in  philosophy,  and  that  the  language  found  in  the 
Bible  was  wrongly  interpreted,  and  might  with  equal  pro- 


MEMOIR    OP   GALILEO.  91 

priety  have  been  urged  against  the  doctrines  of  Ptolemy. 
The  storm  which  had  been  gathering  over  the  devoted  head 
of  the  philosopher  at  last  broke  forth.  He  was  denounced 
from  the  pulpit  by  one  Caccini,  a  friar.  The  general  of 
the  order  to  which  this  friar  belonged  apologized  for  this 
attack ;  and  stimulated  by  a  strong  love  of  truth,  and  to 
silence  his  antagonists,  Galileo  published  another  letter  de- 
fending his  vieics  of  Scripture,  applied  to  his  own  and 
the  system  of  Ptolemy. 

These  letters  were  denounced  to.  the  Inquisition,  and  steps 
taken  to  bring  Galileo  before  the  bar  of  that  sanguinary 
tribunal.  It  is  a  disputed  point  whether  Galileo,  on  hear- 
ing of  the  steps  taken  against  him,  went  to  Rome  of  his 
own  accord,  or  whether  he  was  cited  there.  He  appeared  at 
Rome  at  the  latter  end  of  1615,  and*  was  shortly  after  sum- 
moned before  the  Inquisition,  to  answer  the  charges  of  hav- 
ing heretically  maintained  the  motion  of  the  earth,  and  the 
stability  of  the  sun,  and  with  having  taught  it  to  others. 
The  Inquisitors  met,  and  after  considering  these  charges, 
decreed,  that  Galileo  should  be  enjoined  to  renounce  those 
opinions,  and  to  pledge  himself  neither  to  teach,  defend,  nor 
publish  them ;  and  that,  in  the  event  of  refusal,  he  should 
be  thrown  into  prison.  To  these  Galileo  agreed,  and  was 
dismissed. 

Philip  III.,  King  of  Spain,  a  country  at  that  time  exten- 
sively engaged  in  maritime  enterprise,  had  offered  a  reward 
for  the  discovery  of  an  improved  mode  of  finding  the  longi- 
tude at  sea.  To  this  problem  Galileo  turned  his  attention, 
and  proposed  to  make  the  satellites  of  Jupiter  subservient 
to  effecting  this  purpose.  Communications  on  the  subject 
were  made  to  the  Spanish  court,  and  so  great  was  Galileo's 
desire  to  carry  out  his  project,  that  he  offered  to  go  to  Spain 
and  reside  there  till  he  had  communicated  a  knowledge  of 
his  method.  Nothing  satisfactory  came  out  of  these  nego- 
ciations,  which  were  occasionally  revived  during  a  period  of 


92  MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO. 

ten  or  twelve  years.  In  1618,  three  comets  visited  our  sys- 
tem, and  engaged  the  attention  of  the  learned  men  of  the 
time.  Galileo  was  prevented  by  illness,  from  making  obser- 
vations on  these  erratic  bodies ;  but  he  became  deeply  in- 
volved in  controversy  respecting  them,  and,  it  is  asserted, 
maintained  the  opinion  that  they  were  meteors. 

Cardinal  Maffeo  Barberini,  a  sincere  friend  of  Galileo's, 
was  raised  to  the  papal  throne;  and,  although  in  ill-health 
at  the  time,  Galileo  set  out  for  Rome,  to  congratulate  the 
new  pope  on  his  elevation,,  and  secure  a  continuation  of  his 
friendship.  He  was  kindly  received;  and  after  repeated 
audiences,  the  receipt  of  several  presents,  and  the  promise 
of  a  pension  to  his  son,  he  was  dismissed  by  the  pope  with 
every  expression  of  friendship  and  regard. 

Galileo  was  scarcely  free  from  the  fangs  of  the  inquisi- 
tion, than  his  innate  love  of  truth,  and  abhorrence  of  a  sys- 
tem which  set  the  erring  judgment  of  men  superior  to  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  and  the  phenomena  of  nature,  prompted  him 
to  repeat  his  offences.  In  1618,  he  communicated  to  the 
archduke  Leopold  his  theory  of  the  tides ;  and,  in  doing  so, 
alluded,  in  sarcastic  terms,  to  the  proceedings  of  the  church. 
The  same  spirit  pervaded  others  of  his  writings.  In  1632, 
he  published  a  work,  under  the  title  of  the  System  of  the 
World  of  Galileo  Galilei,  demonstrating  the  Copernican 
theory.  To  shield  himself  from  Inquisitorial  persecution, 
he  adopted  a  system  of  dialogue,  in  which  three  assumed 
characters  are  exhibited  in  debate  upon  the  respective  sys- 
tems. One  of  these  takes  up,  and  defends  the  system  of 
Copernicus ;  another  suggests  doubts  and  difficulties ;  and 
the  third  stands  up  for  the  system  of  Ptolemy.  This  work 
attracted  great  notice,  and  the  church  having  committed 
itself  by  denouncing  the  new  doctrines,  at  once  laid  on  its 
strong  arm  to  crush  the  audacious  innovator  of  its  dogmas. 

Proceedings  w^re  immediately  adopted  to  summon  Galileo 
again  before  the  Inqnhihion.  Rcprese^t&Mcnr  w<*rp 


MEMOIR    OP    GALILEO.  93 

through  the  Tuscan  ambassador  at  the  papal  court,  to  ob- 
tain a  written  statement  of  the  charges,  that  Galileo  might 
prepare  for  his  defence.  This,  however,  was  refused,  and  a 
summons  was  soon  issued  for  him  to  appear  at  Rome.  At 
this  time  a  contagious  epidemic  was  raging  in  Tuscany,  and 
a  strict  quarantine  was  enforced  at  Rome.  Representations 
were  made  of  the  miseries  which  a  journey  under  these  cir- 
cumstances would  impose  upon  Galileo,  who  at  the  time  was 
suffering  from  advanced  age  and  ill  health.  Personal  at- 
tendance was  however  peremptorily  demanded.  Some  res- 
pect was  certainly  paid  to  the  talents  and  infirmities  of 
Galileo  during  the  progress  of  his  trial.  He  was  allowed 
to  reside  in  the  palace  of  the  Tuscan  ambassador,  and  even 
permitted  to  visit  the  public  gardens. 

On  the  22d  of  June,  1633,  the  Inquisitors  assembled  to 
pronounce  sentence  on  the  philosopher.  From  passages  in 
the  sentence,  it  is  suspected  that  Galileo  was  put  to  the  tor- 
ture. The  sentence  itself  is  too  long  for  insertion  ;  but  the 
following  extract  will  convey  an  idea  of  its  nature : — 

"  By  the  desire  of  his  Holiness,  and  of  the  most  eminent  Lords  Cardi- 
nals of  this  supreme  and  universal  Inquisition,  the  two  propositions  of 
the  stability  of  the  sun  and  the  motion  of  the  earth  were  qualified,  by  the 
theological  qualifiers  as  follows  : 

1st.  "  The  proposition  that  the  sun  is  the  centre  of  the  world,  and  im- 
moveable  from  its  place,  is  absurd,  philosophically  false,  and  formally 
heretical;  because  it  is  expressly  contrary  to  Holy  Scripture. 

2d.  "  The  proposition  that  the  earth  is  not  the  centre  of  the  world,  nor 
immoveable ;  but  that  it  moves  and  also  with  a  diurnal  motion,  is  absurd, 
philosophically  false ;  and  theologically  considered,  at  least  erroneous  in 
faith. 

"  We  decree  that  the  book  of  the  Dialogues  of  Galileo  Galilei  be  pro- 
hibited by  edict ;  we  condemn  you  to  the  prison  of  this  office  during 
pleasure ;  we  order  you  for  the  next  three  years  to  recite  once  a-week 
the  seven  penitential  psalms." 

Had  Galileo  stood  up  boldly  in  defence  of  his  opinions? 
he  might  not  perhaps  have  disarmed  the  persecuting  spirit 


94  MEMOIR  OP  GALILEO. 

of  the  Inquisitors,  but  he  might  have  confounded  their  ac- 
cusations, and  either  stood  the  free  champion  of  truth,  or 
fallen  the  proud  martyr  of  science.  He  had  observation 
and  experience  on  his  side  against  which  no  one  could  shut 
his  eyes ;  he  had  arguments  to  advance  which  could  neither 
be  eluded  nor  contradicted  j  and  more,  he  had  the  precedent 
of  the  church  itself  acknowledging,  and  in  a  manner  pat- 
ronizing the  very  opinions  for  holding  which  they  were  per- 
secuting him.  At  the  very  moment  that  he  stood  clothed 
in  penitential  sackcloth  before  the  bar  of  the  Inquistion,  the 
work  of  Corpernicus  (himself  a  Catholic  priest),  dedicated 
to  the  Pope,  stood  in  the  library  of  the  Vatican  ;  and  in  the 
very  year  of  Galileo's  first  persecution,  a  work  was  issued 
by  a  Carmelite  monk  at  Naples,  upholding  the  same  opin- 
ions, and  its  author  never  called  in  question.  By  confessing 
to  the  charges  of  the  Inquisition,  Galileo  in  a  manner  jus- 
tified its  proceedings.  And,  however  detrimental  it  may 
have  been  to  the  interests  of  science,  however  degrading  to 
the  spirit  of  humanity,  we  must  look  upon  the  ancient  phi- 
losopher with  a  kindly  eye.  He  lived  in  a  time  when  the 
mind  of  society  was  bound  down  in  reverence  and  fear  to 
the  dictates  of  the  church.  His  expanded  mind  might  in 
its  vigor  have  braved  persecution,  and  even  death,  before 
perjuring  himself  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  But  old  age 
had  laid  its  withering  hand  upon  him  ;  physical  suffering 
had  broken  down  his  frame ;  and,  dreading  to  sigh  out  his 
few  remaining  days  in  the  \nely  dungeons  of  the  inquisi- 
tion, he  quailed  before  the  dread  power  of  that  fearful  in- 
stitution, and  passively  renounced,  in  words,  those  opinions 
which  he  knew  to  be  true,  and  which  the  progress  of  science 
has  since  demonstrated.  On  his  knees,  and  with  his  hand 
upon  the  Scriptures,  he  solemnly  abjured  the  opinions  he  had 
taught,  in  the  following  words : 

"  With  a  sincere  heart  and  unfeigned  faith,  I  abjure,  curse,  and  detest 
the  said  errors  and  heresies,  (viz.,  that  the  earth  moves,  &c.)     I  swear 


MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO.  95 

that  I  will  never  in  future  say  or  assert  anything,  verbally,  or  in  writing, 
which  may  give  rise  to  a  similar  suspicion  against  me. 

"  I,  Galileo  Galilei,  have  abjured  as  above  with  my  own  hand." 

Rising  from  his  knees,  Galileo,  it  is  said,  stamped  with 
his  foot  upon  the  ground,  and  whispered  to  a  friend,  "  It 
does  move,  though." 

Immediately  on  the  ceremony  being  concluded,  Galileo 
was  conducted  to  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition.  The  ab- 
juration and  sentence  were  publicly  read  in  the  principal 
universities.  After  four  days'  confinement,  the  interest  of 
the  Duke  of  Tuscany  procured  his  liberty  to  reside  under 
surveillance  in  the  house  of  the  Tuscan  ambassador,  from 
whence  he  was  shortly  removed  to  the  palace  of  the  arch- 
bishop Piccolomoni,  at  Sienna.  Here  he  resided  six  months, 
and  was  kindly  treated ;  he  was  then  permitted  to  return  to 
his  own  home,  near  Florence ;  still,  however,  under  restraint. 
Shortly  after  returning  home,  Galileo  suffered  great  afflic- 
tion from  the  loss  of  his  favorite  daughter.  From  1634  to 
163S,  he  remained  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house,  during  nearly 
the  whole  of  which  time  he  suffered  greatly  from  ill-health 
— every  application  for  a  remission  of  his  sentence  being  re- 
jected. 

In  1638,  he  obtained  leave  to  visit  Florence,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  his  health ;  but  under  such  strict  terms,  that  he  dared 
neither  visit  his  friends  nor  admit  them  to  his  house,  and 
required  even  a  special  order  to  be  allowed  to  attend  mass. 
From  1633  to  1638,  Galileo,  wHo  applied  himself  as  closely 
to  study  as  his  health  would  permit,  composed  his  "  Dia- 
logues on  Local  Motion."  So  fearful  were  his  enemies  that 
the  true  spirit  of  the  philosopher  might  again  break  out, 
that  a  license  was  not  granted  for  its  publication,  and  it  had 
to  be  printed  in  Holland. 

About  1636,  Galileo  discovered  the  moon's  diurnal  and 
longitudinal  libration.  This  was  his  last  telescopic  dis- 
covery. He  had  for  years  been  afflicted  with  disease  in  the 


96  MEMOIR    OF    GALILEO. 

right  eye;  in  1637  his  left  was  also  attacked,  and  in  a  few 
months  the  bodily  eyes  of  the  philosopher  were  darkened 
forever.  After  publishing  his  Dialogues  on  Motion,  he 
renewed  his  attempts  to  introduce  his  system  of  finding  the 
1  ongitude  at  sea.  He  made  offers  Co  the  Dutch  government, 
who  appointed  commissioners  to  investigate  the  subject. 
This  correspondence  ended  in  nothing.  Galileo  was  pre- 
sented with  a  golden  chain  as  a  token  of  respect ;  and  after 
his  blindness  one  of  his  pupils  undertook  to  arrange  and 
complete  his  calculations  and  observations.  All  parties  en- 
gaged in  this  matter  died  before  it  could  be  brought  before 
the  world.  This,  however,  is  the  less  to  be  regretted  ;  for 
the  method  proposed  has  never  yet  been  found  answerable  to 
the  desired  purpose. 

After  Galileo  had  become  blind,  the  Inquisition  exercised 
a  little  more  lenity  towards  their  victim.  Many  eminent 
men  of  the  day  visited  him,  among  whom  was  Milton.  He 
projected  a  continuation  of  his  Dialogues  on  Motion  j  but 
while  preparing  it,  he' was  seized  with  his  last  illness,  and 
in  two  months  the  spirit  of  the  injured  philosopher  was  re- 
moved from  the  enmity  of  his  persecutors.  Not  content, 
however,  with  striking  him  down  while  living,  the  vengeance 
of  the  Inquisition  followed  Galileo  even  in  death.  His 
right  to  make  a  will,  and  of  being  buried  in  consecrated  ground 
was  disputed;  and  although  these  were  withdrawn,  his 
friends  were  prohibited  from  erecting  a  monument  over  his 
remains,  and  his  body  lay  for  thirty  years  buried  in  an  ob- 
scure corner  of  the  church.  In  1737,  his  body  was  exhumed 
and  re-interred  under  the  splendid  monument  which  now 
covers  it.  On  this  monument  is  a  bust  of  Galileo,  and 
figures  of  geometry  and  astronomy.  His  house  at  Arcetri, 
about  a  mile  from  Florence,  still  remains,  an  interesting 
relic  to  lovers  of  science. 


m 
$ 

$ 

o^ 


:;  Lefc  the  moon 

Shine  on  thee  in  thy  solitary  walk  ; 

And  let  the  misty  mountain  -winds  be  free 

To  blow  against  the* ;  and  isi  after  years, 

When  these  -wild  ecstasies  shall  be  matured 

Into  a  solsar  pleasure — vhen  thy  mind 

Shall  fl®  a  mansion  for  all  lowly  forms, 

Thy  msmory  be  a  dwelling  place 

For  all  sweet  sounds  and  Harmonies,  oh  !  then 

If  solitude,  or  fear,  or  pain,  or  grief 

Should  be  thy  portion,  with  what  healing  thoughts 

©f  tender  joy  •wilt  thou  remember  me 

And  these  my  benedictions !  "— WORDSWOK-BM. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

EARTH   SCIENCES 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


JUL6     1965 


LD  21-50wi-4,'63 
(D6471slO)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRAF 


fr*^ 


